So,we had a bad day in Paradise.....

The Winooski River, belying its name, is a lovely river. And the Winooski bridge spanning the river between Winooski and Burlington is the perfect New England river bridge. It has all the right elements: banks lined with old brick factories or mills, a waterfall above the bridge, a salmon pool below the bridge and then another, much larger waterfall with an old, but still functioning, hydroelectric power plant fed by the lower falls. There is even a large raft of old logs and forest debris which speak of torrents of water rushing down narrow valleys in the Green Mountains to the east.

The Winooski Bridge

Old brick factory now the home of internet startups
note the smaller falls at the end of the old factory.

The Salmon Hole below the bridge

The big falls and the spillway outflow

I had driven over the bridge a few times but only once in Wilbur, going north from North Beach in Burlington to Champlain on Grand Isle. Yesterday morning we moved home back to North Beach (Quebec South) to meet up with our son, Eli. The plan is to spend three days exploring Burlington together, move home back to Champlain from which Fran and Eli will drive up to Montreal for three days. (It's only about 70 miles from Champlain to Montreal.)

Well, we almost made it. At the Burlington end of the Winooski Bridge you have to bear right from a very narrow bridge lane. (Remember the old: THIS VEHICLE MAKES WIDE RIGHT TURNS?) I forgot. And I wasn't the first to forget.

I think this is what is called a Road Hazard

Note the pieces of rebar sticking out

The narrow land from which I turned

Chunks of concrete missing and exposed rebar

I ran Wilbur's passenger side tires against the whole length of that curb. I wasn't the first. Much of the concrete was torn up and rebar protruded into the roadway.  What a helluva racket it made, too. The front hubcap went rolling across the bridge. I saw it through the mirror. I knew immediately something was very wrong with poor Wilbur.

About fifty yards beyond the bridge there is a turnoff and a little parking lot for The Salmon Hole (pictured above.) I turned into the lot. Fran, who had been following me in Charlotte and saw the whole incident in all its gory detail, turned in after me. This is what we saw when we got out of our vehicles:

This Michelin only need to be re-inflated

The protruding rebar did a job of the tire, rim and wheel liner.

This is a $200 hubcap. 304 Stainless Steel

 When we pulled in there  a fellow sitting on the retaining wall taking a respite from his bicycle remarked: 

You're lucky. There's a tire place 100 yards up the road on the right. 

I wasn't feeling so lucky as I made a beeline up the road. The fellow grabbed his bike and accompanied me up  to E and E tires. 

Our Savior

E & E is the kind of place which is the rule rather than the exception up here; a rickety old wooden building that hangs together by habit and veneers of grease. Any place as sterile as a Firestone, Goodyear or Pep Boys would definitely be suspect up here.

A tatted fellow smoking a cigarette greeted me. I told him what happened. 

You ain't the first. I make a living off people who tear their tires up on that bridge. The thing is, its an f-ing brand new bridge. Let me finish what I'm doing and we'll take a ride down and have a look.

I'd noticed a Harley Sportster stradling the back of one of the bays. Is that what he meant by take a ride? I told him I was going to head on back and would be waiting for him. He said he'd only be a couple of minutes.

I headed back to Wilbur, Charlotte, Fran and Roscoe. Now that help was on the way I began to take in the beauty of the spot we were in, The Salmon Hole. 

The Salmon Hole just below the Winooski Bridge

Fisherman with their tackle came, glanced admiringly at Wilbur's tires then headed down to fish off the rocks. According to one, the hole yielded small mouth bass up to six pounds. In the spring salmon ran to spawn. Notices were posted on trees at the top warning against fishing during the spawning run or not immediately returning lake sturgeon to the river ($1500 fine). I sat with Fran and Roscoe on the low stone wall above the hole and watched the fisherman. (I didn't see anyone catch anything).

Soon I heard the unmistakeable, throaty roar of a Harley and Rick turned into the little lot. He assessed the damage and said he would be back in a few minutes with a truck and a jack. Good to his word he was back withing a half hour. We made a plan for procuring two new tires and getting Wilbur up to his shop where we would deal with the dog-eared wheel rim.

I went back to watching the fishermen. Hey, what could be more important than getting my home on six wheels back on six wheels. I was doing that, or Rick was doing that for me.  Fran, meanwhile was:

Fran on the phone with insurance

dealing with the insurance company.

 So I went back gazing at The Salmon Hole and contemplating how totally out of character was my response to this "crisis".

I flashed on a speech from what is, IMHO, Tom Cruise's best movie: Collateral. Cruise, a contract killer, has just shot a guy who fell several stories and landed on Jamie Fox's cab. Fox is, understandably, a bit shaken. Cruise councils:

Now. We have to make the best of it.

Improvise. Adapt to the environment.

Darwin. "Shit happens." The I *

Ching...whatever. Roll with it...

That was definitely, definitely me. 

Wilbur, hurting at E & E

Two hours later Wilbur had hobbled up to the shop on 5 wheels. Two tires had been delivered. But no matter how big the hammer, how many or hard the blows, how much the time he devoted to it, Rick could not straighten the rim enough to make a seal with the tire. 

Several frenzied calls later we hoped and prayed that we had ordered two rims out of Springfield, Mass. I say hoped and prayed because the fellow we ordered them from wouldn't take a credit card in advance. He wanted $86 each when the Ford dealer had quoted me $340 each and....he never returned any of my phone calls save one when all he said was:

You won't see 'em before Friday around noon and I don't guarantee they'll fit.

Swell.  So we limped, still  on five wheels, over to North Beach, set up an abbreviated camp and told Eli we would meet him for breakfast. Thursday was a fun day with Eli save for the shadows of doubt as to whether the rims would arrive on Friday. Friday we went out to Williston to get prescriptions filled and food shop. Well, those were the ostensible reasons. I really wanted to be near the tire place to do or say I don't know what when the rims didn't arrive.  (So much for mellow David.) At 11:30 I pulled up to the tire place. And there were my new, bright and shiny rims. 

How much did the Ford dealer want for these?

$340 each.

OEM prices for aftermarket rims. That's a good business to be in. I added $10 to my cost.

Blessings be upon you.

I rushed the tires and the rims over to Rick at E & E for mounting and balancing and told him I would bring the rig back at 8AM the next morningng, Saturday. Eli had made reservations for dinner for us at Hen in The Woods in an old grist mill in Waterbury. Charming place, wonderful, fresh, locally grown food. Then I was awake more than half the night listening to the deluge pummeling Wilbur's roof. Rain. I had not considered the possibility of rain. Would I be able to get out of the site? Could Rick mount the new tires in a downpour?  Will my old site at Champlain be too soft to get back into?

We had been to a concert up in North Hero a couple of days before all this. Mango Jam, a Burlington zydeco band had played.

They did a great rendition of Don't Worry Be Happy

Saturday morning the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  I limped Wilbur back to E&E. We were there when they opened.

Rick preparing to mount the new tire and rim.

By 9AM Rick had us ready to go. And, guess what, the shortest way home was right back over the Winooski Bridge.

Wilbur safe back home minus two wheel covers.

A note about the cost: 

Rick had quoted me $440 for two tires installed on the rims, balanced and mounted on Wilbur. On Wednesday, after Rick had about 4 hours of labor on Wilbur, his boss came to me and asked where we were on the project. 

We'd really like to help you but I only have the two guys today......

I understand. I'll pay you now, take the tires with me and come back when I have the rims.

He wrote me up a bill for $468.50. That was the $440 plus tax that Rick quoted me. I told the owner to rewrite the bill for $500 and slipped Rick $40 in cash. I still have $300 to spend on wheel covers. Hey, seldom is every body happy about the way things turn out. But this was one of those times.