... on the road again, for the third time, for the second time

So, I have decided that I should explain what exactly was up with the car so that those who are mechanically inclined don't totally freak out with us continuing to drive a car who's engine overheated. Because normally when an engine overheats, its dead. That is what happened to the van on the way up; it overheated and the engine cracked. This time however, the engine was not in that bad shape. The scenario was this: for some reason or other, the electrical system on the car blinked just long enough that the control for the fan blew out. Fans stop working, engine heat rockets up, Hannah sees the gauge go up, everybody pulls over. The end. The nice mechanics who pulled over to help us suggested that by leaving the hood open a little, the air flowing through would keep the engine cool, which it did. Which the people in the car didn't realize, leading to a long stretch of us following Bill at 35 on the shoulder of the road. We still made it to Manitoba in good time (once that slow-driving thing was remedied... though it wasn't just the fault of the people in the car. We were being cautious in general).

So, the drive yesterday. We had about an extra hour of time to make up - which we didn't - and two cars to fix. Did I mention that the brakes on the van needed work?? ;o) We were blessed that on the drive down to Winnipeg we were able to stop at a random auto-wreckers in Minnedosa and fix up the car and then found a GM dealer in Portage la Prairie who not only got us in to fix the van as soon as we got there, but also had it fixed up in 25 minutes. Well taken care of, we are. Thus were we able to continue on in our otherwise uneventful journey. Yes, the breakdown has really been the most standout part of the trip back thus far, and we have managed not to kill each other yet. Yet. We haven't been able to switch people up in vehicles, so that means that we have spent the last three days in a small, enclosed, slightly claustrophobic space with the same people. The car has been doing pretty well, amusing themselves with little games and Sarah's insane ability to rack up the Clumsiness Points. Last night we in the van were finally able to hit on one activity we could all agree on: comedy. With two laptops, something like five mp3 players/iPods and a number of CD's, there was plenty of Bill Enghart, Steven Wright and Jim Carrey to go around. For hours. It was awesome! Hopefully that positive energy carries over today...
So we did finally make it to Thunder Bay. At one in the morning. But it wasn't that bad sleeping on that church floor, and we are raring to get to Bruce Mines.

As I'm typing this, we are held up in a huge traffic line waiting for construction.

Its good to be back in Ontario.

- Mike
Dei Gratia