Most mornings before I leave my campground I do a walk around the bike to make sure the lights and turn signals all work. I also check the hitch and tires, particularly the rear tire on the bike. I had been noticing some tire wear on all my tires, even on the trailer but the rear tire on the bike was worn down to the "wear bars". These little rubber strips tell you when you should be looking to replace the tire. I really hadn't expected to have to do this on my trip and here I was out on the road with limited tools and I wasn't going to make it home on this tire.
Fortunately it was a beautiful day and no threatening thunder storms. I figured that I could easily make it to the next big town of Grand Prairie and shouldn't have too much trouble locating a tire.
Now, just to change the subject for a minute, I rolled into a tiny town of Beaverlodge, Alberta and this is what I saw and naturally I had to stop for a photograph. Yesterday I gave you Buffalos, today I give you giant Beavers.
I still had another hour and a half before reaching Grand Prairie so I pushed on.
It was a huge change from the previous day as I was now out of the Rockies and the foothills and in the never ending prairies. All I could see now were those stunning neon Canola fields and long straight highways.
As I entered the west side of Grand Prairie I noticed a Costco and headed straight over there knowing they sold a ton of tires. Something I should explain before I go into any more detail. A year ago I had decided based on a lot of research to install a "car tire" on the rear of the bike instead of the conventional motorcycle tire. The advantages are: considerably cheaper and wear three times as long as a bike tire. That's why I started with Costco but as it turned out they didn't have my size in stock and it would be 3 to 10 business days for them to order my size from Portland, Oregon. Needless to say I thanked them and left. I googled tire stores in Grand Prairie and found OK Tire, a national chain. I called and they said they only had one left. I said,"perfect, I only need one." Their store was nearby and the young man who helped me was simply beyond my expectations of good customer service. Not only did he come up with the right tire but he gave me a huge discount, called the local Honda Motorcycle Dealer for installation and said that he'd put me up at his place if he lived in town. This just blew me away. Here we go again with the kind things that people, even strangers, will do for others. Because OK Tires didn't have the right equipment to install and balance tires on motorcycle wheels they directed me to the Honda dealer. By now it was 4:45 pm and their shop closes at 5 pm but they stuck around and got me going in about 45 minutes. All in all I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
It was now close to 6 pm and all I wanted was to get out on the highway and check out my new tire. As I came down the on ramp, picking up speed to blend with traffic a smile of bliss crossed my face as the bike purred along smooth and quiet and set a course for my next camping adventure.
I checked the map and Valleyview, AB was the closest town of any size, only another hour down the road.
I saw a sign for Sherk's RV Park and decided to give them a try. Sherk's was awesome, clean, safe and nowhere near the highway or railroad tracks. I should sleep like a baby after a perfect day on the prairies.
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