January
24, 2006
You
have, no doubt, been expecting the update for my 2006 travel
adventure. I apologize for not having explained what is happening
a little sooner. This year, after living in the same suburban
house for 30 years, my wife and I are down-sizing to a downtown
condominium. A lot of effort was required to empty the basement
and the attic of items collected during that time period, especially
since both of us apparently have an aversion to discarding anything.
This
work was not something that my wife could accomplish by herself, so we
have been working together since mid-November to get the house ready to
sell while also selecting furniture, hardware, flooring, etc. for the
renovation of the condominium. Garage sales, farmer's auctions,
and trips to the dump with trash, have occupied the time normally used
to plan for my trip for the year.
It
appears that there is a lull in the action right now, so I am heading
for a little meander down the east coast to Charleston, S.C. I
will be traveling on two lane highways where possible in Glee, who is
chomping at the bit to get away. Glee now has 234,000 miles on
the odometer and still has not used a drop of oil. I guess that I
shouldn't have said that before leaving on a trip, but I have a lot of
confidence in the old Volvo.
I need
to get away to catch a few rays and hit a few golf balls in warmer
temperatures. I have been to Charleston in the past and always
enjoyed the southern charm of the city. I will update the web
page from there just in case anyone is interested. I still hold
out hope that there will be time for a shorter foreign adventure yet
this winter. A junket to Belize or Mexico City, then on to Cuba
and Chile might be worth three or four weeks. Stay tuned.
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January
27, 2006
Who
said that travel in the USA couldn't be exciting? I departed
Tuesday afternoon, headed for dinner with friends that evening in
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Glee was full of $2.39 gasoline and her
odometer was just about to cross the 234,000 mark. One can't say
that I am not confident in Glee's abilities.
Unfortunately, that confidence was a tad misplaced. After a great
dinner in Rehoboth and an early start on Wednesday morning, I noticed a
smell of unidentifiable burning and a wisp of light, black smoke rising
from under the hood when I stopped for a traffic light in southern
Maryland. Traveling at 50 or 60 mph appeared to be no problem,
but when I stopped for gasoline a little later, the smell and the smoke
reappeared. I checked the motor oil and, as usual, Glee needed no
oil. I proceeded southward.
I
drove hard all day on Route 17, staying off of Interstate Route 95,
whose boring drive I detest, and reached Wilmington, N.C. at
dusk. As I slowed, looking for a cheap hotel to lay my head for
the evening, Glee seemed to slip a gear in her automatic
transmission. Then, when starting from a stop, it sounded like
she was laying a tiny patch of rubber to overcome inertia.
Undeterred, I continued south after a good night's sleep, but the
transmission began to needlessly jump into passing gear on
occasion. Shortly thereafter, the transmission was obviously
slipping whenever I started from a standing stop. I should have
checked the transmission fluid, but I pressed on, past the giant Volvo
dealership in Myrtle Beach, S.C., picturing a richer, driving-free
lifestyle while Glee was being repaired in Charleston. Glee never
made it that far!
The
car started to continuously cycle through passing gear about 20 miles
north of Charleston on Route 17 and I realized that to continue to
drive would do irreparable damage to the transmission, so I slid the
indicator into neutral and drifted off the highway into the parking lot
of a small restaurant. I have always said that God takes care of
children and fools and this fool had drifted into the lot of the best
low country restaurant that I have ever experienced.
The
staff at the SeeWee Restaurant at 4808 Highway 17 in Awendaw, S.C. just
17 miles north of Charleston handed me the telephone and a phone book
to call for help. I called AAA to get towed, opened the phone
book to a small ad in the Yellow Pages that proclaimed "Volvos Only!"
and cited 40 years experience in repairing Glee's ilk. I called
and they agreed to look Glee over.
There
was no sense wasting time waiting for the tow truck, so I ordered a
bowl of she crab soup, a glass of iced tea, and studied the menu.
The soup was among the two or three best that I have ever tasted -
thick, full of crabmeat and accompanied by a small, paper cup of sherry
which made the soup even better. The fried oyster salad was also
delicious, but the homemade banana pudding was simply the best that I
have ever tasted. When I complimented the well-dressed lady
cleaning my table, she thanked me, beamed, and declared, "I made
it!" Somehow, I will get back to that restaurant and I recommend
it highly to you. The SeeWee is worth the trip to Mt. Pleasant
(across the river from Charleston) just to dine.
The
tow truck driver, originally a Philadelphian, delivered me to the
"Reputable" auto (just Volvos!) repair shop and the friendly mechanics
quickly found a leak in the cooling line to the transmission.
Three hours later, which allowed phone calls by the office secretary to
nearby hotels to locate an inexpensive room for a few days, the leak
was repaired and a new radio aerial was installed. This garage is
the place where knowledgeable local Volvo owners bring their cars for
repair. I met some wonderful local people during my three-hour
stay in the office. What great luck! I had found a great
restaurant, the perfect garage to wok on the car, and spent a
delightful afternoon talking with local folks. Things were
working out perfectly and the bill was very reasonable.
Unfortunately, when crossing the beautiful, new bridge over the Cooper
River to get to the hotel, Glee just couldn't shift into her highest
gear. I quickly called back to the garage and they told me to
bring the car back in the morning and they would "have a look."
They looked and declared that Glee needed to visit a transmission
specialist whom they recommended. Ronnie of Ronnie's Transmission
in North Charleston is a good ol' boy, a NASCAR truck driving champion
and a close observer of the professional football scene. After a
long ride in Glee and a lengthy discussion about the Pittsburgh
Steelers in next week's Super Bowl, Ronnie informed me that Glee would
need to have the "overdrive gear clutches of the transmission" rebuilt
to the tune of $1300. "Not to worry," Ronnie advised me, "she'll
be as good as new when we're finished with her on Monday evening."
I am
now sitting in the beautiful public library in gorgeous downtown
Charleston where the temperatures will reach 65 on Saturday and 68 on
Sunday. I will leave Tuesday morning with Glee, her rebuilt
transmission, and new radio aerial, headed north after a wonderful rest
in a delightfully friendly southern capital. The stay will be a
tad longer and considerably more expensive than I had planned, but it
will probably be worth it if Glee can last a few hundred thousand miles
longer. That would certainly be better than the price of a new
Volvo! Incidentally, for those who keep track of those things,
the $2.39 gasoline at home was the most expensive of the trip and I
filled up just before the breakdown for $2.21 in Georgetown, S.C.
Stay tuned.
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