Albertans are The Best!

Super Duper Albertans #1:  Yesterday I went to Lloydminster because the marvelous men and the wonderful women at Discover Ironworks and Pump had finished building me the most amazing pink and silver chariot for taking on Wild Pink Yonder this year.  They did a fabulous job, especially when you consider they are not cart builders by trade.  They are the wizards who fabricate whatever customizations a highway transport needs to do a specific job.  They build pumps.  They weld — and they are creative enough to use their expertise to build a horse-drawn chariot!  They’ve built a magnificent machine for me. I called the Lloydminster media to come do a story on it.

Super Duper Albertans #2: On my way home, I didn’t get too far before I blew a tire on the stock trailer.  A lovely woman named Hillary had her young son, Tyler, hanging out their car window to get my attention about the tire.  I stopped and she offered to drive me to a tire shop.  I thanked her but declined.  I didn’t want to leave the horses on the highway.  The trailer is a tandem axle, so I tried limping homeward for a while.  Nope.  Not a good idea.  The tire was flattened somewhat, which was causing it to heat up.  I didn’t want to take a chance on my poor Bror and Trollie being unceremoniously dumped onto the axle — or worse!  I pulled off onto a range road to figure out my next move …and who showed up?  Hillary and Tyler (and her other, younger, children).  She asked if I had someone coming (I did have).  She wanted to know if we needed dinner!  Or coffee?  Coffee would be great! So Hillary went and picked up Timmy’s coffee and brought it back!

Super Duper Albertans #3: When AMA let me down (refusing to change the tire with the horses in the trailer and refusing to help me pull out the cart so I could get the horses out), I called on super volunteer, Carole Deschover.  Did she know anyone in the ‘hood with a 2-horse trailer?  I figured if I could send the horses on home, I could try limping home myself (because my darling husband removed the jack from the back of our 3/4 ton so I couldn’t change my own durn tire).  Carole grabbed a couple of bottle jacks and charged out.  While she was on the way, she phoned John Stevenson.  Remember John?  He’s that cowboy from a ranch a little west of Lloydminster.  He rode with us last year.  The two of them arrived.  John’s jack-all did a quicker job than the bottle jacks and, after the long delay caused by the idiotic AMA, we had the tire changed in no time.

What a day!  I left home at 10:00 a.m. and didn’t get back until midnight — but the whole mess could have been worse.  I might not have had assistance from all those Super Duper Albertans!

Rock on, Albertans!  You’re what makes this the best place to live!