The Barbecue Retrieval Adventure
Jan 31, 2009 23:33:12 GMT -5
Post by ET on Jan 31, 2009 23:33:12 GMT -5
There are many unexpected adventures in our walk through life and I thought I would share this one.
My good friend who lives not too far away from my location wanted to know if I would go for a ride with him to pick up an all Stainless Barbecue from a factory located Northward. This would be an all day event as the drive was 2-1/2 to 3hrs away. As there were chores I didn’t really want to do that day I accepted the invitation for a short getaway. To fill you in on a little background my friend and our friend John who lives up in that neck of the woods had made an arrangement for a sweet deal on some full size SS barbecues directly from the factory up there, courtesy of a good friend of John’s.
The trip started out fine with a stop for lunch on the way up and then northward again to meet up with John before heading to the factory location. At the factory we loaded a couple of crates on my friends trailer and just started out the driveway when his vehicle just quit running. After a check under the hood I surmised his electric fuel pump gave up the ghost as no fuel flow from the carburetor was seen or smelled when the throttle was operated. Okay a tow truck was called for my friend’s vehicle and we transferred the trailer to John’s vehicle.
The truck was taken to a service station and when we talked to the head mechanic he felt a wire broke or shorted. Well I told him no fuses were blown and no loose burnt wires found. He gave me a funny look as to say, “What do you know about vehicles”. Anyway he told us it would be fixed by noon the next day. Okay we decided to spend the night at Johns cottage situated on a small lake that was only about 20-miles away. As there was still daylight left we assembled John’s barbecue that was designated for the cottage anyway and had a swim before supper. It was a great evening swapping stories over some nice wine and Cubans.
The next morning after breakfast we decided to kill some time and take a hike into another small lake not to far away. Supposedly because of it’s isolation few people fished it and those that did caught some nice size fish. The purpose of our hike was to see what kind of access we could find to it. After hiking for an hour we found the lake and sat there for a while enjoying the scenery. Then when we started out with John leading the way for some reason got turned around because we crossed our path a second time. How did I know this because on the path near a big stump was a pile of bear sh!t I noticed the first time on our way out. Why did I remember this because that pile of sh!t was not all that old and I kept a vigilance for sign of our bear friend possibly being nearby.
Okay time to get serious we hauled out a map we had with us and knowing we were at the east end of the small lake we knew we had to travel in a South South West direction. Once we agreed on a compass bearing we would follow we forged ahead by line of sight method. In 45-mins we were back on the road and with some dumb luck our vehicle was in sight. By the time we got back to the cottage it was mid afternoon and a quick call was made to see if my friends vehicle was ready. After my friend got off the phone he gave me a funny look saying we had to spend another night here, as the vehicle was not fixed. After searching for an electrical problem and found none they also came to the conclusion it needed an electric fuel pump. They didn’t have one in stock and had to order one in for the next morning. Okay another laid back night was in store for us. The next day my friend’s vehicle was fixed and we headed home.
Tried to keep this short as a few other interesting events occurred that I will exclude before we headed home. Bottom line is what should have been a one-day retrieval of a SS barbecue turned into 3-day adventure before making it back home. One of life’s little surprises. ;D
Ed
My good friend who lives not too far away from my location wanted to know if I would go for a ride with him to pick up an all Stainless Barbecue from a factory located Northward. This would be an all day event as the drive was 2-1/2 to 3hrs away. As there were chores I didn’t really want to do that day I accepted the invitation for a short getaway. To fill you in on a little background my friend and our friend John who lives up in that neck of the woods had made an arrangement for a sweet deal on some full size SS barbecues directly from the factory up there, courtesy of a good friend of John’s.
The trip started out fine with a stop for lunch on the way up and then northward again to meet up with John before heading to the factory location. At the factory we loaded a couple of crates on my friends trailer and just started out the driveway when his vehicle just quit running. After a check under the hood I surmised his electric fuel pump gave up the ghost as no fuel flow from the carburetor was seen or smelled when the throttle was operated. Okay a tow truck was called for my friend’s vehicle and we transferred the trailer to John’s vehicle.
The truck was taken to a service station and when we talked to the head mechanic he felt a wire broke or shorted. Well I told him no fuses were blown and no loose burnt wires found. He gave me a funny look as to say, “What do you know about vehicles”. Anyway he told us it would be fixed by noon the next day. Okay we decided to spend the night at Johns cottage situated on a small lake that was only about 20-miles away. As there was still daylight left we assembled John’s barbecue that was designated for the cottage anyway and had a swim before supper. It was a great evening swapping stories over some nice wine and Cubans.
The next morning after breakfast we decided to kill some time and take a hike into another small lake not to far away. Supposedly because of it’s isolation few people fished it and those that did caught some nice size fish. The purpose of our hike was to see what kind of access we could find to it. After hiking for an hour we found the lake and sat there for a while enjoying the scenery. Then when we started out with John leading the way for some reason got turned around because we crossed our path a second time. How did I know this because on the path near a big stump was a pile of bear sh!t I noticed the first time on our way out. Why did I remember this because that pile of sh!t was not all that old and I kept a vigilance for sign of our bear friend possibly being nearby.
Okay time to get serious we hauled out a map we had with us and knowing we were at the east end of the small lake we knew we had to travel in a South South West direction. Once we agreed on a compass bearing we would follow we forged ahead by line of sight method. In 45-mins we were back on the road and with some dumb luck our vehicle was in sight. By the time we got back to the cottage it was mid afternoon and a quick call was made to see if my friends vehicle was ready. After my friend got off the phone he gave me a funny look saying we had to spend another night here, as the vehicle was not fixed. After searching for an electrical problem and found none they also came to the conclusion it needed an electric fuel pump. They didn’t have one in stock and had to order one in for the next morning. Okay another laid back night was in store for us. The next day my friend’s vehicle was fixed and we headed home.
Tried to keep this short as a few other interesting events occurred that I will exclude before we headed home. Bottom line is what should have been a one-day retrieval of a SS barbecue turned into 3-day adventure before making it back home. One of life’s little surprises. ;D
Ed