(pictures to follow soon)
We hurry along the 17 and hope there are no cops that will catch us in the act. That's when having a real car could have come in handy but I love our cocotte nonetheless (cocotte is an affectionate term we use in French that actually means pine cone. Go figure)
We consult the map
and wonder if it would be better to avoid a detour through a town
called Jacksonville (we are now in North Carolina) and take a road
that seems to be shorter rather than with the highway. I read in our
guidebook about Jacksonville and it seems it's a Marine town where
everything is bent around that fact. I don't see how anything
interesting could happen from going through there but on the flip side, it
may slow us down to be on roads and not highways.
After
a short deliberation, we decide to stay on route as there must be a
reason the guide suggests to go that way.
Around
7:30 we start getting really worried because we may not make it in
time for the ferry, in which case we will be stuck doing nothing
until tomorrow and that would really suck. We'd still make it to
Suspension, which is great, but it means less time outside of parties
with our friends, which was kinda the purpose of going to NY :(
At that moment, I tell Seb that we should not worry about the future, just revel in the fact that we are on vacation, without a worry in the world. To tell the truth, it's the first time in years I feel light as a feather with no other worry on my mind than what I'll put next as a CD.
Now, I don't know if I should have knocked on wood or just like in the TV show Angel, we are cursed and should never be happy, but as we are discussing this, a weird noise starts and Seb looks worried
at once. I think it may be the road, as the noise is very rhythmic,
but Seb prefers to stop to be safe and as he da man, it seems very
sound to do as he says.
Well,
turns out he was right to be worried (I guess that's why he da man)
because the car won't start again. This is one thing I am no good at
trouble shooting, so I let him do his thing.
He
doesn't tell me much but his body language says enough: he is really
worried. I tell myself that there is no need to panic until we know
what's wrong, surely we couldn't be that unlucky as to have
irreparable damage on our road trip, our first real vacation in three
years! Right?
A
few minutes after we are stopped on the side of the highway, a truck
stops behind us, and a guy pops out, asking if we need any help.
I'm
really surprised at how nice that gesture that is!
He
looks a bit at things with Seb and they both agree that it probably
is the timing belt and they both now seem worried. I ask Seb how much
a timing belt costs and he says 30$. Well, I am relieved.
Until
he says that the problem with a timing belt is that is actually does
what it's named after: it's a belt that times pieces so that they work
together properly. A stripped belt means the part were no longer timed and it
may mean that the entire engine is scrap, as the valves and tie rods may be completely bent by now, which would cost a fortune and take a long time to repair.
The
man gives us the number for a tow truck but there is no answer. No
shit, it's almost 8 on a Friday night...
We
get in his truck and he looks for numbers with us but either there's
no answer or we're told they're closed.
After
a little while, Rick (he's now upgraded to a name!) says that he has a
trailer at home and will tow us where we need to go.
After
a call to his wife, he finds out that we're in luck, as there is a
Suzuki dealer in town. We're also in luck because we have the good fortune
to have a good Samaritan stop for us that happened to have a trailer!
I
feel really grateful but also bad taking him away from his family on
a Friday night and tell him as such. He shrugs and says it is no
worries.
I
quiz him a little and learn that he is an aviator for the Marines and
he was just coming back from flying when he saw us. I am very
ignorant of the military in the States (well I'm equally ignorant of
the Canadian Forces, as I barely know who flies our three planes and
who drives our four tanks) so I tell him that I didn't know the
Marines had an air force.
He
explains that the Marines are the amphibious force of the military,
working closely with the Navy to provide a quick and combined strike
force. I'll go to bed more knowledgeable it seems, maybe this was the reason we needed to go through Jacksonville. A girl needs to be educated.
As
he installs the trailer on his truck, Seb quietly tells me that I
need to stop referring to the Marines as the army, as it isn't the
same thing at all and usually marines will not take kindly to it.
After
getting back in the truck, I apparently have not integrated Seb's
advice well enough because as I am asking more questions, Rick
eventually tells me, very calmly, that the marines are very different
from the army which are basically the infantry and that the word I
may be looking for is the military.
Ooops!
Thankfully I was in the presence of a Marine with no misplaced ego
as he seemed more amused than anything else at the whole thing.
As
I muse if my ignorance of the MILITARY is a good or bad thing, we
arrive in the parking lot of the Suzuki dealership.
It
seems,again, we are in luck as they have started this week to open on
Saturdays, so at least we're not stuck all weekend wondering what's
wrong with our car!
Rick
recommends a hotel on the other side of the street that his family
stay at when visiting. He advises against walking around town too
much tonight, as a lot of marines are on stay and tend to get drunk
and do stupid stuff. Living downtown Montreal I wonder how different
it can really be, but we take his advice.
The
room is very nice despite its small price and most certainly an upgrade from sleeping in the
car, so I am thinking maybe this is a blessing in disguise and I
decide that tomorrow we'll learn the car can be easily fixed and this
was just a good excuse to provide me with a hot shower and a bit of
rest. We have our laptop, we have our DVDs to and all the
necessary adapters to connect the laptop to the TV and although we
never would have spent the money on the room, so far this car trouble
isn't so bad ;)
So
good night to you all monophasic sleepers, I'll watch movies and
entertain myself as you all sleep and will give you news tomorrow.
