I'll take you back to Hallowe'en night for the rest of the story.
We did check out the Cracker Barrel as a kind of reward for surviving a really difficult day. (forgot to mention that the car repairs will hopefully be covered by the original car warranty.)
when we arrived back at the motel, i got karl to check a sore spot on my ear that just wouldn't settle down. a really close look revealed a "bug" embedded in the top part of my ear!!! ugh, yuck!! don't know whether anyone recalls how i feel about bugs, but, i was not impressed! karl, bless his heart, calmed me down and effectively removed the thing from my ear with a pin. phew, but short lived, because we found another on the back of my neck. this one could not be budged! at this point, i started remembering the stories i'd heard about "ticks" picked up in the bush in the north east USA and why you "don't" want one of them to find you.....
So, after 11 p.m. after a long and challenging day, we discovered that the folks from our travel insurance (through OTIP) are wonderful too. they called the local hospital and arranged payment (we hope). all i needed to do was get there - only one cab company and one cab for 2 or 3 local towns, but it worked. everyone at the hospital was great, and 2 hours later, minus the second tick, prescription in hand, i arrived back at the motel, around 1 a.m.
then, just in case, i checked karl for the ticks as well, and guess what i found?? between one more trip to the ER and a taxi driver in high demand, poor karl arrived back about 5 a.m., tick free, but tired! we did manage a few hours sleep. several calls later, after setting up the rental car and a convincing but effective plea to be picked up, we were on the road again!
less than an hour on the road and we received a text from my cousin marcia telling us that she and aunt elaine, coincidentally driving for Roadtrek in the vicinity, had broken down not 10 min drive from where we were! we came, but couldn't do much to help. the van needed to be towed in for service, elaine was arranging that. meanwhile, marcia had a plane to catch tomorrow morning in pittsburgh (on our way). so... marcia hitched a ride with us and we left poor elaine! we left pittsburgh around suppertime
the drama ended at 1:30 am when we arrived home. lots of excitement this trip, phew! but, also lots of fun and new respect for CAA and OTIP!!
just a postscript! while we were trying to come up with a plan, we knew that marcia and elaine would be driving right by where we were. they were willing to take me home, bless their hearts!! it didn't work out because max couldn't ride in the van and karl would then have been left imprisoned in a motel room in princeton for a week, but it was still nice to have an option, thanks guys!
Sunday, 2 November 2014
October 31st, Going out with a bang!
Our day started on a wonderful note. there were new campers from South Carolina who had come to the mountains for Hallowe'en just loving the clean crisp air and hoping to see snow tomorrow! we tried hard to appear enthusiastic but secretly hoped to avoid any of it. little did we know!!!
we lost Max just a few minutes before we were ready to head out and followed the sound of laughter to one of their coaches. max was sitting up on his hind legs (paws up) trying to convince the lady cooking breakfast to "share" with him!
So..... we set out with the intent to get half way home by late afternoon. we stopped at a rest stop a few hours later and noticed a rather large pool of oil under the car .... and a trail of oil that went on and on! Karl checked and the dipstick was dry, but the car had been running fine to that point, no problems and no oil light on!?!?
Thank goodness for CAA, because even out in the middle of nowhere, a tow truck arrived within 40 minutes and towed us, trailer and all, to a Hyundai dealer in Princeton, about 30 min. away.
Happily since we didn't try to drive the car, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. after what felt like hours, the problem turned out to be a lower seal and a pressure switch near the top of the engine. parts need to be ordered and won't arrive until next week tues at the earliest!!! we were told that it will take up to 2 days to do the work, sigh!
long story short, after numerous phone calls, some with frustrating results, the CAA came to our rescue again and set up a car rental for us to go home until the work is done. as pretty as it is in the mountains, we just couldn't handle the idea of sitting in a motel for a week ..... even with a Cracker Barrel restaurant just next door.
So it sounds like our problems were solved, but not quite - come back tomorrow for the "rest of the story"!
we lost Max just a few minutes before we were ready to head out and followed the sound of laughter to one of their coaches. max was sitting up on his hind legs (paws up) trying to convince the lady cooking breakfast to "share" with him!
So..... we set out with the intent to get half way home by late afternoon. we stopped at a rest stop a few hours later and noticed a rather large pool of oil under the car .... and a trail of oil that went on and on! Karl checked and the dipstick was dry, but the car had been running fine to that point, no problems and no oil light on!?!?
Thank goodness for CAA, because even out in the middle of nowhere, a tow truck arrived within 40 minutes and towed us, trailer and all, to a Hyundai dealer in Princeton, about 30 min. away.
Happily since we didn't try to drive the car, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. after what felt like hours, the problem turned out to be a lower seal and a pressure switch near the top of the engine. parts need to be ordered and won't arrive until next week tues at the earliest!!! we were told that it will take up to 2 days to do the work, sigh!
long story short, after numerous phone calls, some with frustrating results, the CAA came to our rescue again and set up a car rental for us to go home until the work is done. as pretty as it is in the mountains, we just couldn't handle the idea of sitting in a motel for a week ..... even with a Cracker Barrel restaurant just next door.
So it sounds like our problems were solved, but not quite - come back tomorrow for the "rest of the story"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)