'Off' being relative because this road was just FULL of potholes, mud pits, hairpin turns, and the like... not the worst we've ever been on, but, tucked in the back with our knees to our chins, our
mournful early thoughts were that this was going to be a LONG ride. Luckily, it was also a stunning ride as we headed up and into and around and through the mountains of northern Laos. Entire villages were tucked along the curves, with stilts holding them up over sheer drops, and each time 
we emerged from behind a mountain another gorgeous vista was spread below us.All this beauty served to lull us despite the high speed and violent taking of turns that our driver was committed to.
About 4 hours in to what was billed as a 6 hour ride, there was a thud directly beneath me, and a scraping sound as we screeeched to a halt. Ben looked left, and saw our tire go whirling past us and over the side of the mountain.
Driver was absolutely unperturbed. Getting out of the van, he sent some local kids who were standing around to go look for the tire. We passengers were a little stunned, but pitched in by scouring the road in search of the nuts. Driver pulled out a hammer and went at the wheel well with a vengeance. Was this the end of the road for us today, you might ask? Not at all. The kids reappeared with the wheel, the driver put that wheel right back on, and we loaded back up and took off. At first the driver was definitely testing the waters carefully, taking curves slowly and carefully, pulling to a stop twice to get the hammer back out when the wheel got a little wonky again. Soon his confidence was back though, and we were tearing around curves like our wheel had never flown off at all.Big sighs all around when we pulled into the bus station outside of Luang Prabang.
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