HansRygXit Day 5/6

Day 5 and 6 are combined because they were kind of a blur.  Day 5 began wistfully and quietly.  Happy to have a day off the road but looking forward to heading out after our brief respite.  Another dog walk and an extended check out time helped but eventually we were relegated to the lobby of the hotel after we had to finally check out at 1PM.  Waiting on (hopefully) good news from the garage.

The Super 8 Hotel... "The Versailles of Fort Nelson!"

Around 5PM, we got the news that the parts had indeed arrived and our hopes soared at the possibility of hitting the road and putting some miles behind us before it got too late.  Then the bad news... When road testing the Roadtrek, they discovered a severe vibration in the front end when the speed hit 50 mph.  One of the rotors was the wrong part.  Ouch.  Not only was it the wrong part, but the window to order the correct one to be delivered the next day (Saturday) had passed.  It could not even be ordered until Monday then delivered Tuesday to be installed Tuesday afternoon.  Fort Nelson is a nice place and all, but not somewhere I want to spend another 3 days.

One of Fort Nelson's finest hair salons

This must be a very special weed.  It had it's own parking spot!

The is where Team Barb & Lance once again seizes the moment!  We tried calling every auto parts store within 400 miles of Fort Nelson to no avail.  Many had already closed.  We scoured the websites of all the NAPA outlets from Whitehorse to Edmonton with no luck.  We passed the time walking around Fort Nelson trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves since we were supposed to be just passing through per the COVID-19 rules.

A very sad pizza restaurant

Day 6 started with a flurry of activity.  Team Barb & Lance hit the phones.  We called the NAPA stores that showed the part out of stock online on the chance one of the stores did indeed have it in stock.  Sure enough, the NAPA store in Fort St John, some 240 miles away, had 1 in stock.  It's very unusual to only have 1 rotor in stock since they are normally swapped out in pairs.  Anyway, I quickly purchased it over the phone and had them leave it in their pickup bin outside the store.  We had the part!  Now we just need to get it to Fort Nelson.  I called the garage to let them know I found the part and if there was any way it could get installed over the weekend.  Impressed by our ingenuity and tenacity, he said "You get me the part and we'll put it in whenever. It's the least we can do for all the trouble".

I tried to find a rental car in hopes of simply driving the 4 hours to Fort St John and 4 hours back to get the part in the hands of the garage by 6 or 7 pm.  The National Car Rental agency in town is operated by an "on-call" person over the weekend.  Numerous calls to the global and local reservation lines were fruitless.  While I tried the rental car route, Barb signed up on a few Facebook Marketplace sites for Fort St John and advertised a $100 bounty to anyone driving from there to Fort Nelson who would be willing to drop it off enroute.  Sure enough, after about an hour, we had a local grad student reply that he would make a special trip... for $200.  SOLD!  Heck yeah!  Still saving lots on hotels, food and of course, time, by getting out Sunday instead of Tuesday.  We gave him instructions for picking up the part and waited with great anticipation for his arrival.  We took a break outside our room and decompressed (which really means day drinking)..

Chillin'!

Rosie the Wino. Yes, we resorted to staging drunk pet photos. Rosie is not amused.

Around 4 pm. he arrived at the hotel!  New rotor in hand.  We paid him the $200 and also tipped him with a $50 gift card to Boston Pizza, a local chain.  We called the owner of the garage (which is normally closed on Saturday but said he would bring in a mechanic if the part arrived) and told him the part arrived and was waiting in the front seat of the Roadtrek, parked in their lot. Once again, we took a long walk with Rosie to see the sights and strategize our next days drive.

Not all heroes wear capes!  In this case, they drive Volkswagens with cracked windshields

3 hours later we got the call we'd been waiting for!  The van was fixed and good to go.  The mechanic came by the hotel to pick me up and went back to the garage to pay him.  I returned triumphantly with our newly repaired van ready to load up for the next days drive. Since we already paid for the additional night at the hotel and were rather tired from the excitement, we decided to just get everything ready and depart early the next morning.  We hooked up the trailer, restocked the fridge. loaded up the food and clothes, and did a good maintenance check (oils, fluids, tires, etc.).  All we need now is a wake-up and we'll put Fort Nelson, BC in the rear view mirror!