Nope this is not a weather warning, a friend of ours asked us to do a favour. There was a Canadian Chev Avalanche broken down in Montana and he asked me if I would mind going down there with a trailer and bringing it back. Well we didn't have any plans for the weekend and it was an excuse to take a Dodge RAM Cummins out for the day so we agreed.
We picked up the RAM and the trailer nice and early on the Saturday morning and we thought we would take a look at the Del Bonita border crossing because we had never crossed there before. Well we got there and had to wait 2 hours to get across into the US, the queue was horrendous, I think in future if I have to cross on a Bank Holiday I will always try to get to Sweetgrass.
We eventually got across and headed south down some very twisty roads heading down towards Kalispell. The Dodge performed beautifully, that engine is amazing, it sounds fantastic and it pulls like a train. The more you demand from that engine the more it seems to offer, i noticed the MPG was very good too, with or without a load, i was getting about 18 to the gallon with an empty trailer and about 13 with the Avalanche on.
We got down to the dealership and found that the truck was left with no space in front or behind to get the trailer in, luckily it was on a bit of a slope so Jan steered and I pushed. We did not have an electric winch with us, only a "Come Along" so Jan steered again and i winched the thing on backwards. I have to say Jan did an excellent job on the steering and it came on straight at the first attempt, it was such a hot day and there was no way I wanted to mess around with maneuvering the thing to balance it out.
Once the Chev was loaded we went in search of food, ideally we would have gone in for a Sizzler (i think we had earned it) but i was filthy and covered in rust from the chains we used to secure the load. In the end we decided on a Subway.
So we finally got going and disaster struck (again) As we were scooting across Highway 2 heading for Shelby we had a sidewall blowout on the trailer. I pulled over and jacked up the wheel using the jack from the truck and loosened the wheel bolts. This is when I encountered the major problem. The nuts holding the spare to the carrier were a different size to the wheel nuts and i didn't have a wrench to fit.
About 5 minutes later a Ford F-450 pulled up behind me and asked if he could help. The Gods must have been looking down on us that night because his wheel brace fitted the carrier, 15 minutes later we were on our way again.
We got to the border at Sweetgrass and the border crossing fun started. The first question was, why were we in the US, my answer was that we were recovering the truck on the trailer. Next question was who did the trailer belong to, i told her it was a friend of a friend, luckily I had the forethought to make sure I had the Alberta licensing documents. Next question was, who did the truck belong to that I was driving, my answer was that it was a dealership in Lethbridge. Then she asked me if the trailer was mine, and I said No....... So to summarize, I was driving a truck that did not belong to me, towing a trailer that did not belong to me, carrying a truck that did not belong to me, and my reason was that I was doing a favour for a friend.
So we were called inside while all vehicles were thoroughly searched then handed the keys back, thanked for our time, and sent merrily on our way. I wish I had taken some pictures of this but unfortunately we were too busy trying to get the job done we missed the opportunity.
