Vacation September 2008
A bad year is over and a good one is starting. I will do my Furfright update later this week.
Today I will catch up on my last week of vacation.
Sunday September 28th, I went to my house in St-Donat and made as much repairs as I could (fixing the electrical problems of the heating system, covering the sewer pipe, etc.) while the weather was holding nice.
Monday we slowly got ready to go camping (our lot was to be free at 3PM that day). The car was all packed and only had to stop to buy our bread, butter and milk. As I tried to start my car coming out of the grocery, I had to use the power pack I always carry in the car to be able to start the car. Even then, the starting was very noisy and hard.
I started to worry and I got the good idea to stop the car and try to start it again. The car never started again (better there than 25 miles in the wood). Toed the car to the garage and as expected, I had to have to change my starter. Being so late in the afternoon, the repair man couldn’t get another starter in time for that day.
The Jeep was ready the next day around noon so we got right away to our camp site and installed the tent. Once that was done, we went exploring the small roads while listening to old Irish music. We didn’t do much walking nor canoeing since the weather that week was cold, windy and rainy; the only exception being Friday when we also got melting snow.
Wednesday, I went to the village to meet my mother (she wanted to come and see what the camp site was looking like), we parked her car at the gate and I showed her all the nice places we found the previous day. The leaves colors were astonishing and breathtaking. Just as I made a U-turn to go prepare the dinner, I noticed that the car wasn’t rolling as smooth as before.
I stopped to see what was wrong and I saw that I was rolling on a flat tire (You would be amaze to see how you can roll on a flat tire with that JEEP without really noticing it; no pulling and no big inclination). I had no spare in the car (and because of my brother in law, there was a nut I wasn’t able to take out) so I slowly roll on my flat tire up to the camp site so my mom would be able to eat and to be protected from the rain while I went to get help.
Once the hibachi was ready and all was in order for my mate and my mom, I took off to fetch the car of my mom (25 miles away). I put on my camel pack, took a flashlight and a pair of spare batteries and a mp3 player and I was off. Not half an hour had passed before it was so dark that I could barely see the road (the trees often covering the sky over the road). I continue my frantic pace up and down hill pushing myself to keep the tempo no matter what.
After an hour walking with the flashlight in the rain, I was starting to have problems focusing; then the light went down quite fast. By then, I estimated that my 25 miles walk would take me about 4 hours. The batteries in my flashlight had last for about an hour and I still had 2h30 of walk still before I got to the car so I tried to walk without any lights as much as I could, stammering against the rocks in the road and making as much noise as possible so not to meet to many animals.
I know for a fact that there is dears, moose, foxes, bears, wolves, skunks, etc. I also know that most of them would try to avoid me but the danger was mainly if I would have spooked one, then it might have been dangerous. After a bit more than three hours, I met the first car of the night and he was kind enough to give me a lift to my mother’s car. I came back to the camp site and my mom went back home.
The next morning we were happy to see the towing coming in. We went to the garage where it took about 20 minutes for the repair man to take out that nut. It took him about an hour to find a tire to put on the JEEP and we had lost another half a day.
While he was changing the tire, I took notice of how thin my break pads were and new I had to change them really soon. I also took a good look at my flat tire and I was really puzzled to see a metal rod of about 8 inches long and 3/8” of diameter stuck in the middle of it. That is how my luck has been since FF last year.
The last few days of my vacation, we enjoyed the autumn aromas and colors no matter the weather.
Saturday after noon, I came back to my house in St-Donat where my mother had prepared a little party for my mate’s birthday. It was done in a very funny spirit with cardboard hats, blowing flutes, poppers (not the drug), and a huge cake. After dinner, we even played pin the donkey’s tail.
Sunday I did more repairs and preparation for the winter. That is how I finished my vacation this year.
The following week I changed my front breaking pads and rotors. I thought that all was well but as we went to go and paint for one of my friend the following Saturday, my left front break ceased. That was the weekend prior to FF and I was really starting to feel the pressure building. I had only four evenings to go buy a caliper, change it, and to prepare everything for FF (like sewing a red hood, making a bonnet, buying a nightgown, shopping for gifts, shopping for disguises for me and my mate for the Saturday’s dance, getting my horse hooves, and getting the GPS from my father).
I was lucky enough to have one evening without rain to change my caliper and with the help of my mate and two flashlights; we were able to make the repair it in time for our trip south. That is how my bad year ended; since then, everything has been going so good. It feels so nice to be able to enjoy life again…
Here are some of the photos I took from my vacation.
I hope I'll have more sun next year so I can have better colors ;)