The Trip From Hell To The 2012 Vernon Evaluations

Tuesday

The day started out sunny and promised to be a good travelling day. Maria Badyk

and I packed up all of the tack, equipment and feed needed for our one week stay

in Vernon. I decided to leave with the horses on Tuesday figuring that we could

arrive Tuesday night. Let the horses adjust and get use to the track on Wednesday

and Thursday, have Friday as a day off for them to conserve energy and then the

show started Saturday. We were a little late bandaging legs and loading but we

finally pulled out around 12 noon. We were hauling two horse trailers with the

three mares in Maria's trailer and I was hauling the stallion in my trailer.

As we pulled away from the barn I had a sense of foreboding. We've never had any

breakdowns or problems with the trucks or trailers before. I hoped this wasn't

going to be a day that we did.

Just for fun, I had packed walkie talkies so Maria and I could still chat back and

forth once we got out of cell phone range in the mountains.

Four hours down the road and just before the town of Fields the truck started to

sputter. 'Oh s%*t' went through my mind. I called Maria and told her what was

going on. We were winding along some S curves along the side of the mountain

with semis blowing by us and behind us and my truck was sputtering. It caught and

kept going for a bit, and I was crossing my fingers that it had maybe sucked up

some dirt in the fuel tank and we would be fine. But no. It started sputtering more

and more and I had no power left. Then it just stalled and the engine light came on.

(wasn't that a little late for the light to come on?) Trying to steer a 8,000 pound

diesel truck towing a horse trailer with live cargo around a mountain curve with no

power steering is NOT COOL. Thank goodness the road straightened out and a

shoulder began. There was a lodge just up the road from us but the truck couldn't

coast that far. We pulled over and I called my husband Kyle. Unlucky for us he

was in the US at the time so this dooms day really racked up his cell phone bill

with roaming charges. I told him what happened and he said first thing check the

oil. I checked it reluctantly(I hate anything that has to do with grease, oil and

engines) Oil was low but ok. So then try starting the engine. It would turn over but

not start. So he concluded that there was no fuel getting to it. Then he asked me to

open some valve deep in the engine. I was not happy about sticking my hand and

arm down something that is hot and oily however desperate times call for desperate

measures. I opened the valve and diesel trickled out. Ok so apparently it was either

the fuel pump or the injector pump that wasn't working. Time to call Roadside

Assistance.

Have you ever tried calling these guys when you are stuck in the mountains? Holy

man was that ever an ordeal. I called them, waited 5-10mins on hold then was put

through. I had to give them my name, information, ID number, licence plate

number, approximate location,(the girl I was talking to couldn't read a map so this

took about a half hour for her to understand where we were. I didn't think the

directions of just in front of Wasapa Lodge, 12 kms east of Fields on the

TransCanada was vague) and then the nature of our call. She then had to call us

back.

Half hour later I received a phone call back asking where we were again. Oh my

god. Then they said that they would need to contact a tow truck company.

We sat there for another half hour. She called back. She said they could tow the

travel trailer to a safe location. I said no this is a horse trailer not a travel trailer and

we would like it towed back to my farm. She said she would call me back.

Almost an hour later I called them back and had to go through the same thing all

over again. All my info and explaining the nature of our call. Finally I was allowed

to say who I had been speaking with and they transferred me to her. I was told that

they couldn't tow my trailer back to the farm. It had to be to the closest safe

location. Ok so I was going to have to find out what farms are nearby so we could

bring the horses there. But no. She said that the nearest safe location was the

parking lot of the lodge. I asked her if she was kidding. I had an expensive stallion

in the trailer and I'm suppose to just unload him and tie him there on the side of the

busiest hwy in Canada? She then said well why don't you leave him in the trailer.

She obviously had no idea how horse trailers work. That if you leave a horse in a

trailer that is not anchored by a truck, the trailer can tip backwards. I don't know

how many times I had to explain this to the woman but I was getting more than

frustrated. She said again that she would call me back and let me know when the

tow truck was coming. I told her we couldn't tow the truck until we had

replacement truck to anchor the trailer.

Another wait. Then a new girl called me back. I then had to explain the whole

thing all over again and why a horse trailer is not a travel trailer. Unreal.

Meanwhile, Kyle and friends of mine are scrounging around trying to find a truck

that we could borrow to either come pick us up or use for the week in Vernon.

By now we had been sitting on the side of the road for 4 hours. The horses were

starting to get impatient so we fed and watered everyone. Maria grabbed us some

burgers from the lodge. Apparently the lodge doesn't permit people to use their

bathrooms unless you are a guest there. They made an exception for us with

irritated pursed lips. Real nice.

I received another call from the Roadside A and they had some bad news. The tow

company didn't want to send any of their guys into the mountains after dark. And

at the moment the sun was setting. So they either came now or not till the next day.

I had to make a decision. I told her that they can't come now because we don't have

a truck to anchor the trailer. So it will have to be the next day.

I then remembered Cara Moser was just 2 hours east of us. So I gave her a call.

She said she would see what she could do with finding a truck. We waited some

more. Cara called us back and said that a friend of hers could come pick us up and

we could stay at the boarding stable where she keeps her gelding Skuggi. YAY!

I called the Roadside A back, waited on hold, gave my info and location, and

finally got in touch with the girl I was talking to.(she was way more helpful than

the first girl by the way) She said she would call me back when she got a hold of

the tow company.

Waited some more. It seemed like there were semis whizzing by us every 5

seconds.

Then she called back and said that they would come and they would coordinate it

so that the guy would arrive at the same time as Cara and her friend. Finally things

are going right! So then we had a 2 hour wait for everyone to arrive. The tow guy

came and hooked onto the truck and towed the truck and trailer into the parking

lot. We then unloaded Bragur. Strange surroundings, barricades around the snow

piles, semis roaring past but he kept his cool and was an angel. The tow guy then

unhooked the trailer, towed my truck away and Cara's friend hooked up her truck

to the trailer. We then took some time to load Bragur. Understandably he was not

too keen to go back in the trailer. But once he was persuaded with treats and the

tow truck guy talking to him man to man, he went in and we started heading back

to Cochrane. It was 1am and we were tired. We arrived at Cara's stable, prepared

the stalls, unloaded the horses, unbandaged there legs, got them food and water and

then crawled into the living quarters of the horse trailer and collapsed. We didn't

even bother with pajamas.

The next morning we fed the horses and then went for breakfast and made a game

plan. The truck was being towed to my mechanic in High River. And we currently

didn't have another truck to use to go to Vernon. So since the horses had been in

the trailer for so long we decided to make two trips back home(Bragur on the first

trip and the mares on the second trip) unload the horses and give them a day to

rest. That would also give us some time to either find another truck to use or get

my truck fixed.

It took us the whole day to move all four horses back to the farm as Cara's stable

was 3 hours north of my farm. On one of the trips I decided to take Kyle's truck

and test it with the horse trailer. We didn't want to use it because the last time I

pulled the horse trailer with it, it over heated. We thought it could have been

because of the weather front we had on at the time but we weren't sure. But also

because Kyle figured that the transmission wouldn't hold up through the

mountains. Sure enough on the return trip with the horse trailer from Cochrane it

started making weird noises when we went up steep hills. No thanks.

We unloaded the mares, Maria went home and after feeding and looking after

everyone, I went in the house and crashed. The mechanic was suppose to call me

that night when my truck was fixed but he didn't. We couldn't find another truck to

borrow either. Things looked bleak.

To Be Continued...