Driving the open highway is a visual masterpiece at this latitude. Around every bend the landscape offers up the magnificence of natural history. The scene is the result of what once was glacier that gave way to pressure. Warming over centuries created vast waters that have reduced to rivers that cut and lakes that spread. With each passing season, colours bloom and then contrast, glistening and fading in the light, and then winter is here again.
Of course, there is ever present danger driving northern highways. Limited visibility at night, wildlife and sharing the road with transport trucks are all frightening to navigate. Beyond those, there is one thing that is feared even more, that separates northerners from the rest: snow.
When it comes to winter driving, one must be prepared. Good winter tires are critical, and just as important is to retorque. Retorque - what a word, what an important detail.
While driving from Mackenzie to Prince George this past spring, I was in a hurry to get home to prepare for an event the following night, and because a downtown tenant had called to say they had been broken into for the umpteenth time and they wanted to look at video surveillance footage.
There is a distinctive rhythmic sound that a tire makes when it is about to dislodge from a vehicle. At first, I blamed the pavement for the strange sound. As I slowed down on my approach to McLeod Lake, it dawned on me that it must be a flat. Before I could pull over, suddenly there was a loud bang. In what felt like slow motion my left rear tire shot off, bounced, and rose thirty feet in the air, landing in a yard across the highway. With that, on my remaining three wheels, my vehicle gently drifted to a stop directly in front of the McLeod Lake store.
This was a shocking event. I tried to call for help but had no cell service. The kind people in the McLeod Lake Store calmed me down and convinced me that I was fine. By the time the tow truck arrived two hours later, three people had stopped to help, and one concerned gentleman retrieved the tire.
The tow truck driver proclaimed that we have to go back past Mackenzie because someone else had lost a tire too and was waiting for help.
"Wrong direction," I protested.
He simply explained that it was my only option of getting home that night.I accepted my fate and the fun began immediately, driving over 80 km north to the outskirts of Chetwynd with three strangers, listening to tow truck adventures, talking politics and having some laughs. When I finally made it home safe and sound well after midnight, I was so relieved; maybe lucky to be alive.
I was very fortunate in this situation and I'm so very grateful for the kindness of strangers. Learn from my mistake and very good fortune: never, ever forget to retorque after changing your tires.
