Sparks were flying!

 After being on the road and travelling a lot, we decided to slow things down a bit and spend a few days near Squamish, B.C. We wanted to do some hiking, and the weather really wasn’t cooperating. So, what had originally been a 3-day stay turned into 7, and we decided to join a gym. Great idea, right? We could get some activity in at the gym when the weather was nasty and enjoy the outdoors when we could. 

The first three days at the gym were fantastic; we worked our muscles, and on day 4, we had our day all planned out. We would do an hour workout from 11-12, shower, and make it to our truck maintenance appointment that was booked the week prior. Mark would drop me off at the laundromat on the way, and I would get everything washed up while he was getting the truck serviced. Look at us being all efficient and stuff!

Well, everyone knows that the best laid plans go up in smoke when you lock the car keys, phone and the padlock key inside the gym locker. Not to point any fingers, but ‘he’ realized what he had done just as the locker was clicking closed. Oh well, we had an hour, and surely this had happened before at the gym, we would just get some bolt cutters and off we would go! I headed over to the machines; it was upper body day, and as much as I was proud of myself for working out, I really didn’t like arm day. Pull downs and lateral raises here I come. But pushups….Ugggg!

The nice fellow at the gym said he could tackle the padlock no problem and retrieved a big pair of bolt cutters from the back. He worked away on it for a while, and Mark had a go, and they had managed to make a tiny little mark in the lock. The super heavy-duty industrial Master padlock that Mark probably paid 25 cents for at a garage sale was laughing at Mark and Aaron’s efforts. I imagined all of the big, buff weight lifters taking a turn at trying to cut the lock. Oh boy, this was going to get entertaining. 

I moved on to my next exercise while the boys tried a different pair of bolt cutters without any results. They decided that maybe a hacksaw would be better. Sure, no problem, Mark would just zip over to Canadian Tire and pick one up. Oh yeah, the truck keys were in the locker. The lovely Aaron, who was one of the owners of the gym, said he would go and get one, and for us to just continue our workout. Dang, I was not getting out of arm day. About 45 minutes later, he showed up with the tiniest,little, baby hacksaw that I had ever seen and started sawing away. Well, if the lock was laughing at the bolt cutters, I could only imagine what it was thinking of this itty-bitty hacksaw. Not a chance! Aaron headed out again and returned with a third pair of bolt cutters. These were bigger, “red tools” and definitely looked like they were ready for the job! According to my last mini-novel, when you are man-shopping at Home Depot, you should definitely check out the ones buying the red tools. Thank goodness these ones were red because I had done all the arm work that I had in me and wasn’t going to have time for a shower if these shenanigans continued much longer. 

Well, the fancy new bolt cutters were no match for our padlock. Aaron called his business partner, and he said that we might have to wait for a couple of days until he returned to see what they could do. What?!? A couple of days! We had no phones, no wallet, no truck, and we couldn’t even get into the trailer if we did manage to Uber back to the campground. I could just see Mark and Aaron heading back to Canadian Tire to pick up a camp stove and tent for us to set up for the night in the yoga studio. Jeesh!

I was now exhausted and didn’t have it in me to keep pretending that I was pushing myself with my triceps exercise. Mark was nowhere to be seen; he had left the premises in search of a grinder. There was a climbing gym next door, and he and another fellow thought that they might have one we could borrow. They did, but the manager was in a meeting, and the employee at the front desk didn’t think they should lend it without the manager's approval. So Mark returned to the gym and thought we should do bench presses. Sure, that sounds like a fantastic idea. Let’s do even more arm exercises!!! 

Just then, the hydro went out, and you could hear a pin drop in the gym. Everyone stopped what they were doing. It wasn’t surprising; it had been raining for days, and the winds were starting to pick up, too. I said to Mark that even if we did get a grinder, we wouldn’t have any electricity to make it work. He reassured me that it would be battery-operated. Phewww, now only to find a grinder we could actually borrow!

Mark went to check back in with Aaron, and I took the opportunity to escape upstairs with my wiggly jiggly arms to the treadmill (the hydro had clicked back on). There was no way I was going to make the showers, and our truck maintenance appointment had come and gone. Five minutes ticked by, ten, twenty, I was definitely getting a workout in today, and thankfully I had escaped more arm exercises. Mark, in the meantime, had headed out again in search of a grinder. He knew if he told me that we had to wait for a couple of days, that I would probably cry.

He went to the mechanical shop. Yeah, they had a grinder, but nope, they had run out of blades. Dangit. The cabinet maker, Ben, said he had one, but his boss had taken it home for the afternoon. It would take about 20 minutes for him to get it, very promising, but the search continued. Mark then headed to the truck cap store, Cap-it, where, with some begging and pleading, James offered to help. He would just need some ID. Sure, no problem, except that it was locked in the dang locker! Thankfully, he was willing to rely on some good old-fashioned honesty and really… who wouldn’t believe a guy from Ontario running around in the pouring rain asking for a grinder in his gym shorts?

Finally, they had a tool for the job. (it was red, I might add) Equipped with safety goggles and the rather expensive grinder in hand, they were ready to tell Mr. “Master lock” to eat our dust. Upstairs on the treadmill, I heard the blade start up. Ooh, it was sounding like success! The sparks were flying, and everyone in the gym had now stopped their workout to watch the show. It looked like a welding shop, and I’m sure they were getting tired of the interruptions. Success, the lock was cut, we were in, and the race to make it to the Chevrolet dealership was on.

 

Yeah, let's join a gym, sweetie, that will be a great idea! If you are in the Squamish area, we highly recommend the Mountain Fitness Centre. But… maybe go with a cheap padlock or just rely on good old-fashioned honesty!