My worst fear has happened...for the second time. Gaspésie is really touristic and if you want to get away to see something different, you'll have to take an unbeaten path...literally. Yesterday, as I was driving to see Grotte des Fées, which is in the middle of nowhere, and way too hard to reach for what it had to offer. I hit a huge pothole on my way there, it did not feel nice, but I had no idea what it did to my tires. It was on a paved road so you would not expect that. After that pothole, I drove through 12km of nasty forest road just to see a cave that wasn't really a cave. Then, I drove another hour east to Cap-Chat.
When I got to my campsite and sat on my camping chair to relax, that's when I saw the damage to my front tire. The exterior wall of my run-flats was badly damaged. I think the interior was fine, considering the fact that I drove quite some distance after that pothole, but still too dangerous to keep on driving. I went to a garage in town and called around, it was impossible to find the size of tire that I needed. My car is not very common and my tire size doesn't even exist in winter version, just to give an idea of how hard to find it is. My best chance at finding those tires was in Quebec City which is still way too far.
Luckily, a friend that I ignored for 2 years and that I've recently started speaking too is driving by in 2 days, and I was able to order the tire in Montreal for the next day and he can bring them to me. I thought my problem was solved, but when I decided to examine all my tires, I noticed the back tire was also damaged to a lesser extent, it had a bubble but the exterior was not torn apart like the front one. It was already past opening hours, so I had to call back in the morning and luckily, they can place the order and receive in the same day.
I found the tires so now all that's left to do was to find a garage to change the tires. I called every single garage in town, and the next town for an appointment but all of them were booked until next week. I definitely am not staying until next week in a small town with nothing to do. I called again and offered to pay double if they open their shop earlier, and luckily, the second garage I called accepted. The nightmare isn't over until then, thoughts like what if there is a delay with the delivery of the tires, what if my friend changed his mind, what if the garage forgets our appointment, keep going through my mind... but I still tried to keep the spirit up and make the best out of my trip.
Maybe all this was meant to happen. I was planning to hike 2 mountains that were a little intimidating. I felt some stress just thinking about it. Maybe there is a greater force that did not want me to go. I'm unlucky but also so lucky that my friend was driving by exactly 2 days later, not the next day so I had time to order my tires. I'm lucky that I got back in touch with that friend. Also, he wasn't coming for me specifically, he is off to another destination and I happen to be on his way, so he accepted to ship me my tires. There couldn't be a better timing, everything happens for a reason.
So for the next couple of days, while I waited, I took it slow, explored a rocky beach, found a sandy section. I sat there and observed birds, I even saw a whale. It's amazing how those magnificent creatures are just nearby, makes me think how my problems are so minor compared to the magnitude of life and how deep this river really is. Things aren't all perfect, and problems arise inevitably but things are also aligned so that I can solve those problems. I'm so grateful.
At least, Dyno is here to keep me company.
In retrospect, those couple of days in Cap-Chat were probably my favorite days of my trip to Gaspesie.