STRANDED!

Well I have been really busy taking courses and preparing for my move to a new office just outside of Ottawa and haven't had time to blog. I told myself that I would wait until I was settled in the new place before I started again, but because of recent events, I sudenly have time.

Because of a number of circumstances I am spending the first year of my new job alone, leaving my family behind for now. After a whirlwind final week I was set to get on my way on the morning of the 23rd of July.

The morning started out terribly, saying goodbye to my wife as I headed off on my journey. It was scheduled to last 4 days with my first stop in Thunder Bay Ontario.

I got gas and Timmy's for the road and nearly met my end when I was cut off by an 18-wheeler. Thankfully when I spiked the brakes my van full of possessions, (including a TV and a bar fridge), but thankfully it all stayed in place. I was very pleased with myself. I remember thinking that this incident was probably my one 'big scare' of the trip and that everything else would go smoothly...nope.

For those that don't know, driving through Northern Ontario is pretty boring. People complain about Saskatchewan being boring, but at least you can get where you are going in a straight line...not so in NW Ont. curve, hill, curve, hill, construction, repeat. I was amazed at the gas mileage of my new van, (well used but new to me), and she seemed to be running well.

I bought the van a month earlier as I needed a second vehicle for my trip since I couldn't take our only vehicle and leave the family with nothing. The problem was that I am cheap and went for the bargain basement. Well you get what you pay for and I already had to replace the battery but I digress.

Anyway, my journey continued and I stopped in Dryden briefly to buy a disposable camera and get lunch. This would be my last happy stop. After Dryden there is nothing really until you hit Thunder Bay so I settled in and made decent time. As I passed Upsala (find THAT on a map) my radio finally ran out of stations. I would have listened to CD's except my 'new' van came equipped with a CASSETTE player! According to wikipedia a cassette tape is; "a magnetic tape sound recording format" They began in the mid 60's and were replaced by CD's. (My first music puchase was a Rick Springfield cassette! ha ha) Anyway, shortly after pulling out to pass a small moving RV my troubles began in earnest.

I checked my plug in cooler and noticed that it wasn't working. The accessory plug must be dead I thought. Then my glorious air conditioning died and I noticed the 'service engine soon' light...uh oh. Now those that know me know that I know NOTHING about vehicles. So I used my usual strategy, ignore it and hope it goes away. That's when I noticed the vibrations. I turned off my fan and realized that the automatic transmission was stuck in 3rd gear and wouldn't go into overdrive. BAD NEWS! I decided that since I was less than 100 kms from Thunder Bay I would press on rather than risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. My plan was working as I crept along at 90km/h (in hindsight, 60 would have been better, or stopping altogether), but remember my awesome gas mileage? Well stuck in 3rd uses more gas so I realized that I was down to 1/16th of a tank with 60 kms to go so I had to stop. That's when it went from bad to worse.

I stopped at the Timberland Motel in Kaministiquia Ontario (according to the business card) on my map it said Shapaqua. I started to fill up with gas when I heard a loud hiss. When I turned around steam was pouring out of my van and coolant was leaking out the bottom. My rad hose had popped and I knew it was all over.

Tune in later to find out the next chapter!