BEFORE our next trip, we did some extensive modifications to the trailer. We were determined that the bottom wouldn’t fall out this time and even went to the expense of buying three sheets of plywood.
Unfortunately delivery of the wood took rather longer than we had expected and we had to work very fast to get the trailer finished in time. Even so, we were still determined to have everything packed by Thursday night, so that we could relax on Friday, pick up Jacquie and Richard, who were flying in for the school holidays and make an early start on Saturday.
Friday morning found me packing the trailer, with the paint still wet and Friday afternoon found me unpacking it again, because there was too much weight over the wrong bits of spring.
We finished packing around midnight, but there was no hope of an early start, because both the trailer wheels were flat and the service station didn’t open until 7am. However, we did manage to get out of the west gate by 8am and set off on our way to Savuti.
Halfway to Mopipi, one of Katie’s wheels fell off. Well, it didn’t exactly fall off, but it shed all but one of its studs and was within a couple of revolutions of losing that one as well. By midday we had found and fitted two of the missing studs and nuts and decided that it would be safe to carry on to Maun and pick up spares there.
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Three miles short of Toramoja, we were back to square one again, except that we found only one stud this time. We fitted it and turned for home, covering a total distance of about 10 metres before the last stud sheered completely. While the men of the family pondered the problem, the distaff side pitched camp.
Early the following morning, salvation arrived on a bicycle and pedalled into Toramoja to try and find some nuts and bolts for us.
Meanwhile Corrie and Richard stripped the mounting bolts from the spare wheel and banged out the nuts with a chisel. Our friend arrived back with a handful of useful-looking ironmongery and, after a good bit of shoving, fiddling and cursing, the wheel was firmly bolted on. So firmly was it bolted, that it was extremely doubtful if we would be able to get it off again, should we have a puncture.
By 11am we were ready to go, and we opened a can of corned beef to celebrate.
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