STRANDED part 2

*(If you haven't already please read part 1 first immediately below this story.)





When we left our zero- oops I meant hero, OK OK zero, he was watching in horror as his van died. Well feeling nauseous, I went in and asked if anyone knew about cars since I certainly didn't. The owner of the Timberland Motel (and restaurant, and liquor store, and mini-mart, and gift shop and gas station) Bill, was kind enough to have a look and make some calls for me. After 45 agonizing minutes the tow truck arrived. I still had troubles though, I had to get the van fixed but if I had to leave it behind what was I gonna do with all my stuff? Well the driver, Joe, was an excellent guy and wisely persuaded me NOT to go to a particular chain that specializes in rip-offs and instead pointed me to his 'go-to' guy. After a half hour drive we got there but the guy was unavailable. I was depressed but Joe said not to worry he would get me to a place in Thunder Bay that specializes in transmissions. He also was kind enough to stop at the hotel and help me unload some of my crap, and after dropping off the Burgundy Buggy of Broken Dreams, even dropped me off at the hotel. What a day.

So I ordered Pizza, watched TV and called and emailed the usual suspects. Finally I went to bed for a fairly restless sleep.

The next morning I woke up early and called the transmission place and spoke briefly with the guy and he said he wwas busy but would try to get to it quickly and that he would call when he had news...So I waited...

4:30pm I am in agony! All I can think of is that the van is going to be beyond repair or at the very least super costly and I'll have to wait for parts or something. Suddenly the phone rings and it's the garage. My heart is pounding, the moment of truth...IT'S FIXED! But they close in 25 minutes and I have to cab there. It's tight but I make it. He says it's fine and tells me that he just replaced a solenoid. Total repair bill comes to less than 200 bucks! Phew!

After profusely thanking everyone I headed back to the hotel and packed up my stuff. I decided to get a good night's sleep and head out early the next morning.

After another crappy sleep, I double-checked to make sure I packed everything and off I went at 6:30am. The first thing I notice is fog. Great. Fog so thick I couldn't see further than the distance of 1 telephone pole. Not good. It lasted for about two hours and was agonizing.

I stopped to go to the can in Wawa and nearly got in a fist fight with the owner of the gasbar since he didn't like how I parked...it's a long story but suffice it to say that I didn't get gas there and I expanded his vocabulary.

I eventually got close enough to Lake Superior to hop out and dip my toes. I have pictures too. After a brief stop for a bite to eat in Sault-Ste-Marie, (Home of Roberta Bondar, Canada's first female astronaut, so says the sign), I carried on to my final stop 3 hours later.

I wish I had an excellent ending for this story but hey this is real life.

I ended up in Sudbury, home of a really big Nickel....I guess that's an ending.

Until next time remember, no Payne, no gain.