Mar 3 Col.Moldes to JV Gonsalez
The forecast is once again calling for rain overnight,
however they got a little more than expected. In the city of Santa Fe they got
400mm (15.75”) in one day, the cities of Rosario and Cordoba are also on the
flood watch and as these were on our travel plan towards Montevideo we had to
make a quick decision to backtrack to Salta then take a long SouthEast angle
towards the north end of Uruguay. Hopefully avoiding flooded cities and roads
along the way.
The early start is delayed due to another flat tire, this
time Brenda’s back tire has picked up a nail and overnight the slow leak
deflated the tire.
I proceed to change the tire and install the spare tube, the hotel owner sees what I am up to and informs me that there is a Gomera (tire repair shop) just up the street 50m. This sounds good to me as I am sweating like crazy already, it is very humid and already 25C. I take the tube up to the tire shop for patching but it is not open, back to plan A and installing the spare.
Once installed I thought I would give the tire shop one more try in hopes of using his air compressor instead of my little tire pump. He was open and a couple of seconds of air soon revealed something that made me scratch my head. I guess somewhere along the way I forgot that the spare tube was the punctured tube from the last time we had a flat and now I just installed a tube with a hole in it. Good thing the young guy at the shop is used to the heat and is soon removing the tire and patching the tube. I figure I might as well get him to patch the other tube as well, he has all the good supplies and tools to do it. Our guide dogs came along for the walk and initially waited patiently at the street, mostly due to the two large dogs in the shop (one can be seen above), but soon they got courageous and entered the yard to see what we were doing. Big mistake, one of the shop dogs proceeded to turn the older of our guides into a rag doll. The dog fight was broken up by the mechanic and surprisingly the little guide dog ran back to the hotel, we were relieved that we did not have to tell the hotel owner that his dog got killed at the tire shop. The kid is finished with the tire and we pay him the $50pesos ($5CAD), back to the hotel to install the tire and get going.
I proceed to change the tire and install the spare tube, the hotel owner sees what I am up to and informs me that there is a Gomera (tire repair shop) just up the street 50m. This sounds good to me as I am sweating like crazy already, it is very humid and already 25C. I take the tube up to the tire shop for patching but it is not open, back to plan A and installing the spare.
Once installed I thought I would give the tire shop one more try in hopes of using his air compressor instead of my little tire pump. He was open and a couple of seconds of air soon revealed something that made me scratch my head. I guess somewhere along the way I forgot that the spare tube was the punctured tube from the last time we had a flat and now I just installed a tube with a hole in it. Good thing the young guy at the shop is used to the heat and is soon removing the tire and patching the tube. I figure I might as well get him to patch the other tube as well, he has all the good supplies and tools to do it. Our guide dogs came along for the walk and initially waited patiently at the street, mostly due to the two large dogs in the shop (one can be seen above), but soon they got courageous and entered the yard to see what we were doing. Big mistake, one of the shop dogs proceeded to turn the older of our guides into a rag doll. The dog fight was broken up by the mechanic and surprisingly the little guide dog ran back to the hotel, we were relieved that we did not have to tell the hotel owner that his dog got killed at the tire shop. The kid is finished with the tire and we pay him the $50pesos ($5CAD), back to the hotel to install the tire and get going.
 | ||||
| Dog of the Day, safely resting under my bike.
Our little dog is there waiting for us, her ear cut and
bleeding but other than that she seemed okay. We let the hotel owner know about
his dog and how it happened, he replies that it is not his dog but a neighbor
that lives on the block behind the hotel. This is getting comical, they have
been hanging around the hotel the entire time and they belong to someone else.
We roll back up the road into Salta and after a quick visit
to a bike shop we are on Hwy 16 on our way to JV Gonsalez for the night. Much
like our Hwy16, it is straight and uneventful, lots to see but it does not
change much from mile to mile. There are a few hotels in town and shortly after
checking in the rain clouds roll in and give the area a good soaking all night.
  
|
No comments:
Post a Comment