Extra Days

There’s a reason for why we don’t rush our travels.  We’ve been doing this a long time, so it’s based on experience.  

One of those reasons came up while we were staying on the Bay Roberts peninsula, about an hour or so from St. John’s. 

Our steering mechanism had been making noise for awhile, but we had been assured by our usual garage that it was working fine. Now, after 5,000 km of travel to the east coast, we could hear other noises as well. There was a slight pull when braking, and an occasional grinding drew our concern. We stopped at a Canadian Tire auto shop and asked them to please check the brakes. It didn’t take long for them to tell us that the steering pump needed to be replaced and they didn’t recommend us driving it, but they were unable to get us in until the next day. The brakes, they said, were good. 

Our trailer was 115 km away and we obviously had no other vehicle with us. First thing to do is to get a rental car.  Huh, none available according to the operators from some central calling centre, it’s 4:30 pm, and they are closing soon anyway. Next option, a hotel room for the night. There were 4 within walking distance, so we weren’t concerned. Except all of them were full. Now both of us are sitting working madly on our cell phones trying to find a place to stay.  Thank goodness we were in the city with good cell service! We did get a hotel a 15 minute taxi ride away, and we took their last room.  This is Tuesday night!  What is going on in St. John’s?

Oh well, back to the garage the next morning, and now the steering works great and quietly.

With the afternoon ahead of us, we decided to do some of the touring we had missed while sitting at the auto shop. But when we encountered potholes, the grinding noise under the front wheels started up again.  Since we were closer to the trailer than to the city, we gingerly drove on. When we came across a local garage, we stopped in.  The sole mechanic came out, looked us over, and declared a brake issue.  As we had originally thought! 

 

They were able to get us in first thing the next morning, and upon removing the wheels found that the whole problem was really a bad wheel bearing. The brakes, he said, were good. They happened to have the part on hand (it was supposed to go into another truck on their lot), so we were on our way later that morning, having used up 48 hours on servicing.  

Normally our extra days aren’t used for such dire reasons. More common uses are fishing days for the hubby, game days if the weather is bad, and of course, time for me to write my blog ;)

But as we continue our travels, at least we know our brakes are good.

W