Monday, September 28, 2009

Random Trip 09 *Fail Update*



Hello all. So the trip took a southern turn. I left Montreal around 4 Saturday evening. The plan was to drive until I was Either too tired to drive, then go to sleep. OR. Make it to Fredericton and stay with a friend. However, judging by the time line of the Toronto-Montreal trip, it was going to take me 16 hours to get to Fredericton, And a full 24 hours of driving from Montreal-PEI. UGH. So anyways, I leave Montreal, drive about 20 minutes, and during this time I notice the van has much less power than the previous day. Not that it was a rocket ship to begin with, but this was bad. It got to the point where I was endangering others I was going so slow on the highway. So I pulled over to gather my thoughts, when a flatbed rips up in front of me, backs up to the front of the van, and jumps out. He's about to hook it up when I jump out, and explain I wasn't quite broke down yet, so he carried on. Well anyways, I'll cut to the chase. After much messing around and realizing that the van is not going to make it home (this year), the plan was then to leave the van at a garage, and get a cab back into the city to my friend Sean's house. I would get a drive back with Rob, John, David, and Colin of the Paper Lions early Sunday morning. (http://www.myspace.com/paperlionsmusic). So I'm talking to Andrew on the phone, and I'm parked in what I assume is some small town outside Montreal. Andrew is checking on google maps to see how many kms it was from my exact location, into Sean's so I know how much a cab is going to cost. Now I had been gone about 4 hours at this point, rambling down the highway, then snaking through back roads, then searching for a garage, or even a wharf at this point. So I'm thinking, I must be at least 100kms from Sean's, at LEAST, this cab is going to cost a fair buck. Then Andrew starts laughing, and I'm like, what's so funny. What could possibly be so funny at this point in our lives Andrew.....what? And Andrew says, "Well Spencer, according to this, you are 15kms from Sean's house. I had to laugh, it was just too ridiculous to not laugh. I guess in all my back roads, and turning slightly back to find a garage, I had managed to almost come full circle. So I told him I could manage to get the van the 15km journey, for the sake of leaving the van somewhere and getting a cab. So the van is now parked in front of Sean's house, I'm sitting on my couch in Charlottetown, and there are at least 3 plans in the works to get this thing home. So I think things will turn out well in the end. And to all the people who told me it wouldn't make it.....shut it. haha.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Random Trip 09 *Update*

So I'm currently sitting at Sean's apartment in MTL. We drove here thursday, and got in around 9pm or so. Then we hit the road yesterday morning and got to Toronto. Met the guy with the van around 4pm, bought the van, and then left to head back to MTL around 4:30. According to google maps, it's about a 6 hour drive from Toronto to MTL. Now I knew this van wasn't fast, but I did not think it would take me ELEVEN HOURS. I rolled into MTL at 3:30am, and had a much needed sleep. Woke up, hung out with Sean, got a Burrito, and am now getting ready to hit the road. I don't really have a destination in mind as of yet, so we will see how far the van gets me today.

Cruising along at about 80 on the 401.

Nice sky on the go

In the van (not the slow one) on the way to MTL from PEI.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Random Trip 09

So I got an email from my good friend Andrew, who is also my landlord (not to many of you can say that). The email said this...

"Question: Would you be able to be drive a VW van from Toronto back to PEI if you got a drive up on Thurs? this is not a rhetorical question..."

So of course, my response was...

"Absolutely..."

So I leave bright and early tomorrow am, and I believe were staying in Mtl Thursday night, and will be getting to Toronto around lunch on Friday. (And if this isn't all random enough, my drive is with the Paper Lions). At which point I meet up with the van man, make the exchange, and then head back east. I've been telling people about this, when most hear what I'm driving back, I seem to get a negative response. Such as "are you traveling with a tow truck??". But I have faith in it, even though we haven't met. Wish me luck, and stay tuned for updates, which will happen during the trip.

ps. This is the beast herself...