Founders Tour 2017. Day 2.

How could it get any worse, right?
I set the bar so low on day 1 of the Founders Tour that we certainly could not get any lower.  I took Fred G on his first kayak ride around in circles until we got mere feet away from where we started, showed him no ducks and even managed to lower expectations to the point where even taking a shot at a duck would seem lively.  A great start to the trip.  Then we got started on Day 2.

After loading up all our gear into my trailer for the weekend retreat and solving all the worlds problems in one night of spirited swilling, we were off at a nice early 4am.  We would have had time to get to Harrison and drop off the trailer at our rental home for the weekend and still have plenty of time to meet Clider at The Blind and shoot many ducks. Heck, I even had a big surprise up my sleeve.  All things seemed possible.  Traveling down I-90 at a reasonable 65mph the left wheel of my trailer fell off.  We were lucky that it got hung up inside the wheel well of the trailer or else it may have passed us as we were spitting sparks and fishtailing off the road.  We immediately stopped on the side of the highway, pressed against a guardrail and a good solid 6 inches of shoulder separating us from the early morning traffic that could not see us until they got to the corner we were on. Crap Monkey!

I run brand new tires on the Jeep, and good ones of an identical rim/tire on the trailer so I never plan on dealing with a flat that can't be driven on or Les Schwab'd easily.  I don't carry a jack or lug-wrench.  That's a mistake.  With the tire completely off the trailer we had no choice but to not easily disconnect the trailer (it's on one wheel and a hub after all) and head off to get a jack.  Keep in mind it's 4:30am and the trailer is black.   Traffic, although light, is terrifying at 75mph on the I-90.  Fred G volunteered to stay behind with our flashing headlamps so nobody would take the corner and run into our crap that was just inches from being in the travel lane.  I turned around in Rose Lake and was lucky to have a nice lady working the Conoco gas station that lent us what we needed. "You want some kind of deposit?"  "No, just be safe young man."  Back at the trailer Fred was calmly telling me when cars would approach as I tried to reconnect the tire to a hub with 2 bent lugs.  Nearing the end of cobbling the thing together I noticed an Idaho State Trooper turning around to help us.  He pulled in behind and asked how things were going.

Sidebar: At 4:45am 2 guys wearing all camo with a broken trailer, loaded with guns and beer, inches from the travel lane, don't raise any kind of flag here in North Idaho. No further inquiry was needed from this nice Trooper and he went back to his prowler to wait out our dilemma. We were very happy he did not ask any further questions or ask for ID, license, insurance or come too close to us. Remember, the night before, only hours actually, we had solved all the worlds problems. Potential 'Big Problem' averted.

With the wheel barely back on we made it to the Rose lake exit and regrouped.  The Trooper pulled in minutes later along with yet another and merely waved as we worked on getting the wheel tight.  The stress was high my friends.  As we took off for Harrison it didn't take long to realize that our hamfisted assembly wasn't working and I needed to uncouple yet again and go back to my house to get the right socket and wrench combo to get the wheel and spacer back on tight.  I woke my Sweetie to tell her it was just me banging around at 6am and not a crazed killer in our garage. I told her about our trials and tribulations and she responded with a sleepy "oh" then back to sleep. Finally back to Rose Lake and back on the road. I was likely going somewhere between 7 and 9 mph the rest of the way to Harrison as my trust in my trailer construction skills was devastated.  Fred G was silent.

Finally making it to our home away from home we unloaded the 'trailer of problems' and worked our way out to The Blind. Keep in mind it's now aboot 10am and the morning couldn't get much worse.  Lowered bar and all.  On the walk out we ran into Clider and his Lady digging a deep hole.  Crap monkey.  Fred G and I did the best we could with being helpful and sat quietly in The Blind as Clider took care of the sad work at hand. After they left we halfheartedly threw out some blocks and tried to hunt for a couple more hours. It was unsuccessful at best.  Before pulling up and heading back to our home away from home, which paled in comparison to last years, I did have at least one opportunity to shoot at a duck.  I winged it and even after some 3 1/2" steel thrown its way it swam off. My 2nd NR of the season.  I now sat at a 0 duck count and Fred had 0 to show for two days of me hosting him.  At this point I considered the bar to be lower than ever.  Good job Bob D.  So far the worst Founders Tour ever.

However, I still had an ace up my sleeve.

GBCH
R.I.P. PtBH.