Jul 4 2011

Adventures in Road Travel Hell

I have recently learned that sometimes slinking off into the night without so much as a note is the best way to leave someone.

For example, if you are stricken with a case of honesty and decide to tell your trusty old touring minivan you’re less than a day away (7 hours, to be precise) from leaving it for a new one it may turn on you, leave you stranded in the middle of national park nowhere, send a tow truck driver who destroys your home sweet trailer, and finally attack you with an absolute wiener schnitzel of an AMA representative who refuses to fix the broken Ruby it’s responsible for. Let’s observe in photos:

Mama Dragon protesting our impending break-up with her by overheating like an angry bitch in the middle of Jasper National Park.

Looking under the hood reveals Mama Dragon is burnt toast.

Cell service doesn’t exist when you breakdown 150km from the nearest town in the middle of a Canadian national park. Here’s JP hitchhiking the 8km to the nearest warden station (and phone) while the rest of us spend 1.5 hours limping the van the same distance.

Waiting for a tow truck ….

1 hour later still waiting for a tow truck …

2 hours later still waiting for a tow truck …

CAA to the rescue … Or so we thought.

Mama Dragon and Ruby pre-towing from hell.

Ruby’s frame looking awfully destroyed post-towing from hell.

Mama Ponto to the sleep rescue with a plush hotel room in which to rest for a couple hours before resuming vehicular problem solving.

Superhero Lew Bates hauling us the 700km to the new van … Without even missing a gig along the way.

Crashing hard in the back of superhero Lew Bates’ truck after a daylong adventure in road travel hell.