182 The long wait in Great Falls

Sunday 9th June 2013  Miles Today 8 Total  7331

A food shopping day. We did this to stop ourselves dying of boredom. In the afternoon we went to the cinema and saw Fast & Furious 6 where they used the flip over, 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer car we photographed at Universal Studios. Shown in post 163. We thoroughly enjoyed the film though.

Monday 10th June 2013 Miles Today 8 Total 7339

Another skull numbingly boring day. More shopping, this time for clothing. I bought a new pair of zip off trousers. Why is it that everyone else in the world has legs that are 4" longer than mine ?
We also bought a couple of thin fleeces to be worn as jumpers under our heated jackets. We are going to the Arctic !
This sports shop we bought the fleeces from, Sheels, was an education in itself. One corner of the shop was an armory. There were roughly 250 guns on display. Everything from mini shotguns for kids, through assault rifles to a 50 caliber long distance sniper rifle. I loved it. Being ex-military, it was like a sweet shop for me. Karen was a bit more reserved. My personal favorites were the ones I previously used in the Army and at my old gun club. A Barretta 92F (as used by Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon) and a Glock 17. Sadly Mr Blair put a stop to all that, chastising the many for the errors of a few.
Out here guns are viewed very different to the UK. For some they are a necessary way of life, especially in Alaska where they hunt to eat and need protecting from bears. Others have them for sport or protection. I recently saw a great bumper sticker that said "We only call 911 to clean up".
It was then back to the cinema and after a bite to eat, we watched the new Star Trek Movie. Another brilliant film. How old are we ?

Tuesday11th June 2013 Miles Today 10 Total 7349
Today was pack up day. We spent the morning sorting through our gear and trying to redistribute the weight. At 1:30 the bike shop phoned to say that the wheel rim had finally arrived from Japan. Yipee !
It would be a few hours to rebuild our new one so we went to the Laundromat, launderette to us Brits

The Laundromat was an education in itself. Firstly it was part of a petrol filling station and secondly it had an internal door, straight from the laundry into a casino. So while we were waiting for the dryer to do it's stuff we went next door. In there was a bar so not wanting to be rude, we ordered a beer. Before giving us the beer, we were asked if we were going to play the machines. Somewhat perplexed at the question we said yes. The reply was positive. Free beer for gamblers. Wohoo. Where have we been all this time !

We had 6 single dollar bills on us (About £4) so armed with $3 each we took on the casino big time.
It took me the whole 40 minute drying cycle to loose mine whilst watching frogs jump all over the screen to some weird game that I still do not understand. Karen on the other hand only used 2 of her dollars and came out winning $10 whereupon we pulled the plug on it.

So there we were. Our visit to the laundry netted us: 1) clean clothes, 2) free beer and 3) $7 in profit. Not a bad day at the office all things considered.
Then it was off to the bike shop to collect a healthy Wallace. We had to wait a while as the wheel was not finished. At 5:30 the bike was done and I was presented with a $960 bill (About £615), the main cost being the wheel rim.

We set off a bit quick as the car needed to be back at the airport for 6:30 to we set off with bike and car. I very quickly noticed that there was something seriously wrong with the bike. The rear end was jumping up and down and making the whole bike oscillate. I pulled into a petrol station as we needed to fill both vehicles up and put the bike on the main stand to spin the rear wheel up. The rim had not been put on properly. It was not out of true sideways but was slightly oval on shape, hence the pogo effect.
Damn. The bike shop was just shutting and I did not relish the thought of losing another morning taking it back.
We dumped the car and on the way back Karen felt the oscillation too. Once hack at the motel I set about making Wallace's wheel straight. I had no Jig and 3 hours of getting lost in spokes later, I think I have set the wheel to an acceptable shape. We will see tomorrow when we are set free to re-enter Canada.