Pan Am Experience Part 3

["Bo Parrish" <lindap@lcc.net>]

Back in the USA

Part 3

The Storm

Heading north out of Canadian Customs, we drove into and through a major storm system. (When we reached Texas, we found out that this storm had made national news.) It is only about 75 miles from the inspection station on Hwy. 35 to Portal, but it took us 3 hours to travel this distance. We knew we had to stop in Estevan for fuel – we were close to running on fumes.

First we hit heavy rain, then the lightening and hail started. We were creeping along at 15 mph just trying to see the lines on the road. The lightening struck us when we were about 10 miles from Estevan. Bo saw a bright ball of fire hit the truck just above me. All the lights on the dash lit up and the truck lost power momentarily. The voltage came through the steering wheel making my arms and chest ache for a little while. The truck momentarily lost power. The wind was blowing so hard we could hardly keep the rig on the road. We later heard that there were 93 mph winds associated with this system.

Finally, we made it to Estevan. The rains had dropped to "just a heavy downpour", so Bo got out to pump the diesel. This is when he noticed the right front tire going flat. He hooked up the portable air pump, but the tire was loosing air almost as fast as the pump was pumping it in. Meanwhile, he had to protect the opening to the fuel tank with his body and arms to try to keep the rain out. After managing to pump enough fuel to get us back into the US and enough air to move the truck away from the fuel pump to change tires, the rain almost stopped.

Remember that dark cloud? As Bo was releasing the spare tire from under the truck, it fell, breaking his thumb. Bo persevered, the tire was changed and we were back on the road to the USA.