***Just like Day 1 blog I have loaded pictures onto Picasa. Check them out HERE or click on Snapshots of Life next to this blog. ***
We woke up early-ish so that we could head out for North Sydney, Nova Scotia. That is where we would be catching the ferry to Newfoundland on Sunday. The drive to North Sydney was only supposed to be about 5 or 6 hours, and because we left early we were trying to scheme what we should do once we arrived.
Our plans got interrupted when a strange noise started to come from somewhere underneath the hood of the car. We could hear it as we were driving and it was most definitely getting worse and worse the longer we drove.
We were about 60km from Truro, NS by this point---so we thought we would stop in there to get it checked out. I thought maybe if I stuck my ear closer to the dashboard I could try and locate exactly what direction the noise was coming from. As soon as I did that I huge thump and clang came from our front driver’s tire and Alex and I looked at each other in utter confusion. We actually had no clue what that noise was and what had just happened.
We listened even harder but everything seemed just as noisy as it has 5 min earlier, so we continued on. Not very far down the road, our left front tire completely exploded and we were left to swerve in front of a semi-trailer and pull of on the side of the road as our tire had completely blown to shreds. Perhaps that clang did mean something after all?!
Well we looked at our tire, and a couple young guys who had witnessed the whole episode stopped to make sure we were okay. They were going to try and get us a tow truck, but we told them we had CAA so we would just call.
We had decided about a month ago that maybe CAA would be a good idea after all, especially since we were going to be travelling some 12,000+km in five weeks.
We called up CAA and they sent us out a tow truck, they wanted us to just put the dummy tire on, but we were more concerned with the strange noise coming from our engine area, than the tire that has also happened to blow at the same time.
They said a tow truck would be out in 30-45min so we waited. 25 min later we got a call saying our tow truck that was sent out over-heated so they are sending a new one. Hooray! Actually, as far as we could tell the first tow truck that they had sent was probably over-heated just over the brow of the hill that we were currently stopped at.
45 min from the time the first tow truck was supposed to of arrived our new tow truck came to our rescue. The driver/mechanic looked at our tire and looked under our engine and said that there would be no problem—he would get our car back to the shop, fixed up and then we would be back on the road.
That sounded fantastic!
So, he cranked Jerusalem up onto his flatbed and he hauled us, Jerusalem and all of our belongings into Truro, NS to get fixed up.
Once an initial look-over was complete they filled us in on what the diagnosis was. We would definitely need a new front tire, and if we were getting the front left one we better do the front right so the car will be better balanced.
As for the sound under the engine, our mechanic informed us that as far as he could tell it was just some loose belts that needed tightening.
He also said he would tighten up our bumpers which need a bit more support so that we could make it all the way home without having to worry about them..
Total Estimated Costs $350.00---considering what we thought it might be, that was great.
So, when Jerusalem was going into the doctor to get fixed up, we hiked back into more of the main area of Truro and stopped at a pub for some lunch. On our stroll back we picked up snacks for the drives at Sobey’s and then roamed back to the shop.
They had told us it would be a few hours so we weren't’ expecting Jerusalem to be done anytime soon, but about 20min after we got back from lunch, Jerusalem was parked outside waiting for us to continue on.
Our total costs were about $344.00 and Jerusalem is running better now than he has ever done..Soo…Thank-you Truro Auto-shop, for getting us back on the road.
On our way out of town we had gathered there was an Acadian Lines bus depot, so we had decided that it might be wise to eliminate some of the weight in Jerusalem and send a suitcase home.
One suitcase is headed back to Calgary by itself—no Canadian tour for it, but we now have a little more space and can haul around a bit more snack to nibble on during the long rides.
Following dropping off our bag we hopped back onto the highway and cruised with no problem to North Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Once again, google maps confused the heck out of us…but with a few U-turns, and a few stop-ins at some gas stations to ask where we needed to go, we found our campground---it was the RV Park that we had passed that was wide open.
Any normal day this would be fine, but on this particular day the wind-storm that kept us awake the day before was still causing havoc.
We checked in, and were advised that there were shelters along a wall of trees that may help with the wind, so we drove towards them. After careful consideration we decided it would be better to use the hut and the trees, and Jerusalem on the other side as a wind shelter for out tent.
And so we did.
It was too windy for a fire, so after we set up our tent we had showers and then ate snacks..and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment