I found a guardian angel today.
I started my move to Fundy, which involved going down Smokey
Mountain and through all the construction zones. After I got past the worst of it, my coach
was acting “funny”; I thought maybe I had a flat tire or, at least, one in
need. When I got to the freshly paved
smooth part of the road, it didn’t get any better and I was afraid to get stuck
where there wasn’t any place to get off the road, so I made a U-turn into
someone’s driveway, which, of course meant I was going to have to unhook the
Jeep to turn around, but that was the least of my issues if I had a tire
problem. I had no cell service to call
road side assistance.
As it turned out, an oil rig mechanic and his wife were at
home; this is their weekend cottage. He
came out to see if he could help. We
couldn’t find anything amiss, so I unhooked the Jeep – as I had made the U-turn
and the Jeep was at a major angle and the hitch was fully extended, I couldn’t
get the pins out to release the hitch.
My guardian angel got out his “work” hammer and we finally got it
released -- then I drove the coach down
the road about a mile to see if I could narrow down the issue; nothing wrong. The coach was fine. So I went back and did the same thing with
the Jeep; nothing. I don’t know what
happened; maybe the jack was tweaked (or something else was) by the road down,
but it seemed fine now.
So I thanked my angel and hooked the Jeep up again …. Only,
since everything is on a hill, when I released the brake and put the Jeep in
neutral for towing, it rolled right into the back of the coach. I didn’t know what else to do, and thought it
would straighten itself out on level ground, so I drove back onto Cabot Trail.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the
circumstances, the Jeep’s brake “sets” itself during the towing-ready process
and I have to be very careful to unset it at the right time. Once, when I was new to towing, I thought I
had it released and it wasn’t and I drug the Jeep a short distance before I
realized the error. So now I immediately
check the wheels when I start to move to be sure they are turning.
When I turned out of the angel’s driveway, the Jeep didn’t
look level, but the wheels were turning so I went on to the place where I had
previously turned around … to check and be sure all was OK before continuing
down the mountain. What had happened was
the tow bar locked in the storage position when the Jeep rolled forward and the
front of the car was off the ground. You
have to tow it 4 down, so I couldn’t continue on, and there was no way to
unlock the tow bar with the car attached
and I couldn’t unhook the car in its current position . Having no better idea, I tried backing the
car up a foot, hopefully releasing the tow bar from the “slot” it was locked
in, without doing any damage to the front of the Jeep. Luckily, it worked, but really tore up the
tow bar in the process.
About this time, my guardian angel and his wife pulled up next
to me in their truck. They noticed the
car was raised when I left their driveway and knew that wasn’t right, so they
came to help me. He was driving his
“work” truck, so he got some tools and went to work on my tow bar, fixing it
enough that it is serviceable until I can get it repaired.
They had made several offers, both at their home and at the
turn-out, to follow me down the mountain to be sure I was OK, which was extremely
nice (they have a satellite phone), but I didn’t want to impose any further ….
But was very thankful they had been there when I needed them.
I don’t know what the original issue was, but everything seemed to be fine now and I didn’t have any further problems.
On the Cabot Trail there is a Celtic College that has a sign
out saying they have crafts. I didn’t
stop any of the times I passed it, but today there were 2 tour buses parked in
the lot, so maybe I missed an opportunity.
As I was filling (sort of filling – they place a limit on
the amount you can charge on your credit card and it isn’t enough to completely
fill the tank) my tank today I realize it was the last diesel I will be buying
in Canada for a while. I will still need to put gas in my
Jeep though.
There are two roads into this campground; my GPS gave me a
choice … I choose the wrong one. The roads
are the same distance and time; if you take Hwy 1 to Hwy 114, you end up having
to drive over a mountain; this one wasn’t twisty/turny – it was straight up and
straight down. The view from the summit was beautiful, but then you had to come
down. Downshifting didn’t save my
brakes; wow. The ranger said the other road doesn’t cross
the mountain. Unfortunately, the only
option out of the park toward Maine is over that mountain, so I get to do it again.
When I drove through Moncton I thought it a good idea
to get some groceries, since I didn’t have anything “fresh” in the
refrigerator. The prices in Canada, and
as I travel east in general, are much higher than “home,” especially food. The produce is poor and limited and
everything is much higher than I’m used to paying. Even with the favorable exchange rate, it is
half again to twice as much. For
instance, I use lunchables for a quick snack on my travel days, which I buy at
Walmart for $1.00 each. I paid $4.00 for
one in Ingonish and $2.00 each today at Walmart.
I am definitely going to come back when I tour New England. I didn’t see much of Nova Scotia and there is
more of New Brunswick I want to see.
I don’t usually experience “road rage” at other drivers; the
worst is usually when they pass and then cut you off …. Like you can stop on a
dime … but today I could have run over a car and not looked back (not really,
but …). He was in front of me, driving
well below the speed limit on a Trans Canada Highway, but every time we came to
a passing lane, he would speed up so that I couldn’t pass him. There was no way it was coincidental, and
this went on for a couple hundred miles.
Apparently he was making a statement only known to him. There were a couple of kids fighting in the
back section of his car almost the whole time, so maybe he was oblivious. Anyway, eventually he turned off and I did a
shoulder roll, took a deep breath and drove on.
The ranger at the Marconi Museum said that the Mounties and
Municipal police don’t usually give out speeding tickets so I didn’t need to
worry, unless it was the end of the month.
I saw three Mounties alongside the road on Highway 104 with the radar
gun pointed; luckily I learned my lesson a few states back.
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