The day started off very warm (90F) and slowly for some - croaky voices, headaches, upset tummys. Glen could hardly talk, which made it even harder for the Americans to understand him! Most of the gang stayed at home in the morning, but Will had other ideas...I'll let him fill you in on that later.
We met at El Cid for Mexican Lunch and sad goodbyes to our family and friends from Oakhurst. The food was delicious, but the restaurant really needs to invest in some Air Conditioning in the back room! After taking photographs, exchanging some gifts (thanks Harry and Cathy for the awesome Cap), and eventually saying Goodbye, we headed down the road with our drivers, Dawn and Laura, and their cool looking people mover to Sonora.
The road to Sonora was long, hilly and windy (as in corners) and would take us about 1 1/2 hours. It was hot outside and inside the van and we needed to keep the Air Con going. As we continued on, Glen was regretting having Mexican for lunch after such a big night out with the local pork products. Naturally, we all bagged him out and suggested that Dawn and Laura pull out the Burrito scented air freshener!
After the continuous barrage of hills, Dawn noticed that the temperature gauge on the dash was basically lying past the H indicator. Westy stepped in and tried to make the Van a little bit cooler by turning off the Air Con. Don't worry about us Westy, we're fine, sweltering in the heat, Glen feeling queasy! The Air Con thing seemed to work for a little bit, but then the Van decided it would stay hot.
We drove into Moccasin Point Marina Boat Ramp, and lifted the bonnet - well tried to anyway. The front of the van was covered in green liquid and we realized we were in trouble. We waited for the radiator to cool and noticed it had a crack. We called for the backup van (Van 2)! An hour later it arrived with Joe. After the boys did some quick fix to the radiator, we got Van 1 up and running, transported our luggage and us into Van 2, and began to follow Van 1 back to Sonora...
...the only problem was that Van 1 left and Van 2 didn't!
The van wouldn't start! Dawn and Laura had a go at starting it, Westy had a go, Glen had a go, Will, Sarah and Michelle all said how it should be done, but nothing worked. Having limited phone reception made it difficult to call for help, but we managed to call AAA (RACT) and get a tow truck to us, and a message to our new host families that we might be a little delayed.
After 3 hours at the Park, we managed to get the Van onto the tow truck and Errol was just about ready to go with it! He struggles with the heat and his fur sometimes. Our hosts drove down to meet us there instead and we eventually made it to Sonora and settled in for the next couple of days!
SARAH
No comments:
Post a Comment