You may be wondering what U-joints, museums and mice have in common. The short answer is 41 hours in Prince George, British Columbia. The long answer is more involved and if you have a moment I’ll unravel the tale.
Our second day on the road in Canada, the rig developed a vibration. This may not seem like such a big deal but recent experience has taught us to be paranoid of anything that isn’t quite right with the rig. Ignoring anything just gets you into more trouble. This part of Canada is sparsely populated and we ended up driving for hours before we came to Prince George where there was a facility equipped to inspect the rig.
Prince George is not a very inspiring town. It is industrial and it appears to be a hub for the maintenance and repair of trucks and heavy equipment which was great for us at the moment but otherwise would not be a destination spot.
Luckily, we were able to get an appointment for early the next morning. And, that night, while at our campsite, we were treated to a spectacular storm with a double rainbow.
After dropping the rig off at the shop, I took the Dudes to the local museum, Exploration Place. This turned out to be the bright spot in a very dreary town. The Lil’ Dude claims it was “the best museum I have ever been too”.
right: The Lil’ Dude “conducts” electricity.
The small, unassuming building was a combination of a science, natural history and cultural museum and all of it was displayed in a hands-on fashion which also made it a bit of a playground. They had an amazing collection of dinosaur bones and fossils, live animals such as an albino corn snake, turtle, gecko and hissing roaches from Madagascar. There were science experiments, a rock collection, a shuttle simulator, local native clothing and birch bark baskets, a real jail cell, a huge collection of real stuffed animals such as a lynx, black bear, grizzly bears, big horn sheep, bald eagle, golden eagle and mountain goats. One of their favorite areas was the “play” area with a water trough and flowing water that you could build dams and experiment with fluid dynamics, a manual crane and an imitation paddle wheel boat.
After several hours, we left to get something some lunch. Then the Dudes begged to go back to the museum. So, we did and we stayed until closing time.
Meanwhile, the diagnosis came in. The U-joints failed on the rig and they wouldn’t be able to get the parts until the next day. Since the drive shaft was dismantled, we would have to stay in the parking lot of the shop until it was repaired. Which would be fine if it were not 80 ft. from a railroad crossing and a major thruway for trucks.
There was a constant parade of trucks switching gears as they went by. But, the sound of the trucks paled in comparison to the train whistle that blew seemingly in the front door of the rig and being so close to the tracks also made the rig shake and rock from side to side. It was going to be a long night.
Then, when there was a quite moment, I heard a scurrying and scratching sound. I looked toward the kitchen cabinet to find first one, then two, then three mice!
In Seattle, we had stayed in a house while the rig sat idle in the driveway. This gave some opportunistic mice a chance to move in. We thought we had eliminated them before our departure but evidently there were some stowaways we didn’t know about.
Because of the trains and the trucks, the Hippygeek and I were not sleeping well (the Dudes can sleep through anything). Then, one of the mice ran across the bed. This put the Hippygeek over the edge. He tore off the covers, sprang out of bed, turned on all of the lights, grabbed a baseball bat and lunged toward the offending vermin. To see him leaping through the air wielding a baseball bat in his underwear at 2:00 am to do battle with mice was really something to see (sorry, no pictures of this). Needless to say, it was a sleepless night.
The next day, after spending a small fortune, our rig was ready to go. And so, the tale of our unplanned 41 hours in Prince George ends with us back on the road with enlightened children, a depleted bank account and one less mouse.
“Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you’re going to do about it.” Kathleen Casey Theisen
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