Betty is the bike. I don’t know that I have called her by name on the blog since we left.
We were heading from our campsite in Brackley Beach down the coast to destinations unknown with a stop in Morell to meet up with Neil Breum. We stopped for gas at some one-building town and there was someone fixing a flat tire in the parking lot. The power of suggestion (God has probably been called worse things) caused Alb to look down at the tires of the bike. With all the saddlebags and things there is only about a 3 inch gap where you can actually see the back tire. And there, right smack dab in the middle of the 3-inch gap we could clearly see the head of a nail. The tire seemed to been holding air so off we went with the intention of keeping an eye on it.
We got about 30km down the road to Morell and stopped at a little shopping complex on the outskirts so Barbee could phone Neil and arrange to meet him. Albert check the tire pressure: 17lbs. Should be 41 or something. We were losing air fast.
We went into the NAPA we were parked outside of and asked if anyone fixed bike tires. This led to a big discussion between all the locals about whether they should call Henry or send us to Glenn’s Cycle Shop in Charlottetown. Perhaps Rob could do it; he had some bicycle tires at his place, maybe he’d have a motorbike tire too. It was rather comical in a Corner Gas kind of way.
We decided it would be best to lighten the load and I'd have to ride with J & B to meet Neil while Alb headed off to find Glenn’s Cycle Shop, which turned out to be only about 40km away. I never did get used to how close everything is on the island – it’s really really small.
This totally changed the course of events for the day for us. We sat outside the bike shop for a couple of hours while Alb and the great mechanic (whom we will call M) dismantled the bike and replaced the back tire.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there are tons of motorbikes in the Maritimes, but very few “biker” type people. M was a biker type people. At one point I took the camera into the shop to get some pics for the blog. When M noticed the camera he turned to Alb and said quietly said, “I’d better not end up in any f-ing pictures.” Ooops. I tucked the camera in my pocket, not letting him know I’d already taken one.
Albert responded, “Oh, you’re one of those camera shy types, eh.”
M says, “Ya never know where yer gonna find me on America’s Most Wanted.”
Before the end of the episode M thanked Alb for his help and offered to keep him on.
We were heading from our campsite in Brackley Beach down the coast to destinations unknown with a stop in Morell to meet up with Neil Breum. We stopped for gas at some one-building town and there was someone fixing a flat tire in the parking lot. The power of suggestion (God has probably been called worse things) caused Alb to look down at the tires of the bike. With all the saddlebags and things there is only about a 3 inch gap where you can actually see the back tire. And there, right smack dab in the middle of the 3-inch gap we could clearly see the head of a nail. The tire seemed to been holding air so off we went with the intention of keeping an eye on it.
We got about 30km down the road to Morell and stopped at a little shopping complex on the outskirts so Barbee could phone Neil and arrange to meet him. Albert check the tire pressure: 17lbs. Should be 41 or something. We were losing air fast.
We went into the NAPA we were parked outside of and asked if anyone fixed bike tires. This led to a big discussion between all the locals about whether they should call Henry or send us to Glenn’s Cycle Shop in Charlottetown. Perhaps Rob could do it; he had some bicycle tires at his place, maybe he’d have a motorbike tire too. It was rather comical in a Corner Gas kind of way.
We decided it would be best to lighten the load and I'd have to ride with J & B to meet Neil while Alb headed off to find Glenn’s Cycle Shop, which turned out to be only about 40km away. I never did get used to how close everything is on the island – it’s really really small.
This totally changed the course of events for the day for us. We sat outside the bike shop for a couple of hours while Alb and the great mechanic (whom we will call M) dismantled the bike and replaced the back tire.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there are tons of motorbikes in the Maritimes, but very few “biker” type people. M was a biker type people. At one point I took the camera into the shop to get some pics for the blog. When M noticed the camera he turned to Alb and said quietly said, “I’d better not end up in any f-ing pictures.” Ooops. I tucked the camera in my pocket, not letting him know I’d already taken one.
Albert responded, “Oh, you’re one of those camera shy types, eh.”
M says, “Ya never know where yer gonna find me on America’s Most Wanted.”
Before the end of the episode M thanked Alb for his help and offered to keep him on.
Mechanic and Alb gettin' their hands dirty re-tiring Betty
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