9.05: day 6 "Last Day"
We left Plymouth, MN (which is right outside of Minneapolis) for our final day of the trip. The total drive time for the day... approx. 7.5 hours. The night before, we slept at the Red Roof Inn for 59.00 per night and the dog was free. The room was surprisingly nice considering the price. We let ourselves sleep in this morning till 9AM as we were so tired from driving the day before. It is amazing how sitting in a car for hours upon hours can cause such heavy exhaustion! We were so very hungry because the dinner the night before consisted of 1 snickers bar split 2 ways. We found breakfast and were on our way.
We drove right through Minneapolis and entered into Wisconsin. Wisconsin (by the way) is beautiful this time of year. Sweet rolling hills, green grass, rivers, big shady trees.... BOOM! As we were driving my car decides to have a stroke on the highway. The 'service engine soon' light is flashing and we are off the road. We realize something very bad has just happened on the easiest terrain of the trip. This also happened to be Labor Day weekend. A time when most people are not at work. We called probably 20 - 25 mechanics, my Dad (who is in Florida) is calling around the area we were in too, for us. So the only place we found open and that felt sorry for us happened to be this guy Josh, at an oil and lube shop.
We drove right through Minneapolis and entered into Wisconsin. Wisconsin (by the way) is beautiful this time of year. Sweet rolling hills, green grass, rivers, big shady trees.... BOOM! As we were driving my car decides to have a stroke on the highway. The 'service engine soon' light is flashing and we are off the road. We realize something very bad has just happened on the easiest terrain of the trip. This also happened to be Labor Day weekend. A time when most people are not at work. We called probably 20 - 25 mechanics, my Dad (who is in Florida) is calling around the area we were in too, for us. So the only place we found open and that felt sorry for us happened to be this guy Josh, at an oil and lube shop.
Here she is... 'Ol Velveeta' in the shop.
Mr. trailer not far behind.
And then we wait. Wait to see what Josh can find. Josh was our 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' of the town mechanics. He was our only hope.
I found it strange that the place we ended up was right across the street from a 'Mike's Smokehouse' and (as you can see below) on the corner of Frank St.
Michael's name = Mike Franks... hmmm....The guy is super friendly and did the best he could but we end up $100 more broke and the car is even worse off. Frustrated, tired (ONLY 5.5 Hours from Chicago) we call a hotel and 'pull over' for the night.
The hotel we found was nice, dinner was hot and delicious, happy hour consisted of cheap local beer and the Gator game was on. From there... rest.
The hotel we found was nice, dinner was hot and delicious, happy hour consisted of cheap local beer and the Gator game was on. From there... rest.
Posts
That sounds like a perfect night, despite the car trouble
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to your engine? Was it resolvable?!
When I was on my way from Tampa to Los Angeles, my car's brain (yes, VW's have "brains") totally bit it and I was stranded in the desert 100 miles from anything..that was my "easy" day, too! Didn't get to see the Grand Canyon, but I did get to see the VW dealer of Santa Fe. Le Sigh.