So we were driving to Broken Hill on Saturday. And the car was running beautifully. And there was virtually no traffic on the road. And we had plenty of water to drink, cookies to eat, music to listen to. And then the CD player just...stopped. One minute there was music, next minute there was silence, and the face of the stereo was totally blank.
So we fiddled with it a bit. Took the face off, whacked it, put it back on, and it worked again. And then it shut off again.
And then Darrin noticed that every time the music stopped, the speedometer started dropping too, and the fuel gauge started dropping, and so even though there was another car right in front of us going at about 100 kph, and we were pretty much matching their speed, our speedometer only said 80. And then the car starts shifting up & down between gears every 5-10 seconds.
So the next town is Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn). So we decided it would probably be a really good idea to stop and check out what was going on. Pulled off the main road and lost power completely. No lights, no power steering, nothing. We got out, Darrin checked things like the battery, cables, etc., but neither of us is really fluent in car mechanics so we're pretty much stuck. The nearest payphone is on the other end of the town, and even though it's not a big town, it's still a decent walk.
But of course the payphone isn't actually working when we get to it, so we go across the road to a petrol station/roadhouse, where they're JUST closing up, and the lady there lets Darrin use her phone to ring for help. So Barb & John (his mum & step-dad) drive out to give us a hand. We walk back to the car (after searching fruitlessly for a toilet) and...yep. The car started on the first try. And I actually ran up and KICKED it for being so snotty to us.
Anyway. We got back on the road, but we only got about 8-9 kilometres (about 5 miles) out of Cockburn before the car died again. Sat and waited for Barb & John to get there. Once they did, John had a look at things, and we tried a few things, and then he said "I think this is an RAA job." So we called the RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, same kind of organization as the AAA in the US) and they got the RAA guy in Broken Hill to come out with his truck and carry it to the service station just down the street from Barb & John. And we rode back with them. And of course since it's a long weekend, and Easter Monday is an official public holiday here, they won't look at it till Tuesday (tomorrow).
And we were pulling a trailer as well, but it would've cost us $2.20/kilometre to tow THAT (at 40 kilometres from Broken Hill...ouch), so John found a friend in Cockburn to look after it for us till we can get it back again.
We waited till 4:50 pm for the truck to get there. We had actually been running early until we had the car problem. It was looking like we'd get into Broken Hill about 3:30. Ha.
Yeah, so that's our weekend. How's yours been?
So we fiddled with it a bit. Took the face off, whacked it, put it back on, and it worked again. And then it shut off again.
And then Darrin noticed that every time the music stopped, the speedometer started dropping too, and the fuel gauge started dropping, and so even though there was another car right in front of us going at about 100 kph, and we were pretty much matching their speed, our speedometer only said 80. And then the car starts shifting up & down between gears every 5-10 seconds.
So the next town is Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn). So we decided it would probably be a really good idea to stop and check out what was going on. Pulled off the main road and lost power completely. No lights, no power steering, nothing. We got out, Darrin checked things like the battery, cables, etc., but neither of us is really fluent in car mechanics so we're pretty much stuck. The nearest payphone is on the other end of the town, and even though it's not a big town, it's still a decent walk.
But of course the payphone isn't actually working when we get to it, so we go across the road to a petrol station/roadhouse, where they're JUST closing up, and the lady there lets Darrin use her phone to ring for help. So Barb & John (his mum & step-dad) drive out to give us a hand. We walk back to the car (after searching fruitlessly for a toilet) and...yep. The car started on the first try. And I actually ran up and KICKED it for being so snotty to us.
Anyway. We got back on the road, but we only got about 8-9 kilometres (about 5 miles) out of Cockburn before the car died again. Sat and waited for Barb & John to get there. Once they did, John had a look at things, and we tried a few things, and then he said "I think this is an RAA job." So we called the RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, same kind of organization as the AAA in the US) and they got the RAA guy in Broken Hill to come out with his truck and carry it to the service station just down the street from Barb & John. And we rode back with them. And of course since it's a long weekend, and Easter Monday is an official public holiday here, they won't look at it till Tuesday (tomorrow).
And we were pulling a trailer as well, but it would've cost us $2.20/kilometre to tow THAT (at 40 kilometres from Broken Hill...ouch), so John found a friend in Cockburn to look after it for us till we can get it back again.
We waited till 4:50 pm for the truck to get there. We had actually been running early until we had the car problem. It was looking like we'd get into Broken Hill about 3:30. Ha.
Yeah, so that's our weekend. How's yours been?
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