Traveling Day 2

Get up this morning ahead of the alarm which eventually doesn't go off. I think hotel staff love this joke on me and put the alarm clock on the exact time but reverse the am/pm thingy, so you don't pay attention to all the details of setting the alarm. Man you'd think after all my travels and the consistency of this anomoly happening to me, that would be the first thing I'd check. But I am a guy after all, it's like instructions in the box, Teresa's says, they give you those for a reason as I'm done with no idea why I have extra parts and the wheels won't roll....anyways, I digress. Well grab my shower, pay my bill grab some free Java and head off to the Muffler Man. As I sputter and chug along the road, I make it to the entrance of the shop and hear some grinding....not good! Shut it off immediately and coast in to park. We push it in a bay, lift it, deduce it's the engine (uh duh!) and then pull the oil pan to see what treasures we may find. Well if you see the picture attached, we find a really bent valve rod, and the remnants of the piston head, shaft, rings, etc.......engine change time!!! Good thing I listened to that very free advice (no amendments to the fee), 'cause the beauty of Kalamazoo is it's right next to Motor City USA and Detroit MI has a few extra 3800i GM engines sitting around. In fact, the guy was able to get me another engine with the same amount of Kms/Mi on it just down the road and predicting me to be on the road by tomorrow night or Saturday morning.....light about $2200 CDN in my wallet. But all things considering, could be worse, like say, past Wawa by hrs with no cell coverage, the car packed with my crap and no CAA card in my wallet!!!! Dumb-dumb!!! As I sat patiently in the waiting area, a lady pulls in with an older Jeep YJ steaming out the front and Anti-freeze pouring out the bottom. She gets her low down and it's a water pump that needs to be replaced. She sits down and starts complaining to me how she just had the radiator and the entire cooling system replaced about a year or so ago and how she can't afford this right now, how she lives 30 mins away with no one to come 'rescue her', the whole time I'm just politely nodding and smiling away. To which the guy behind the counter said "wrong guy to be talking too!" but I did respond "wanna trade?".

As I'm waiting for someone to say 'Nah we're just kidding, you're good to go.' I contemplate my next moves. The guy asked me where I'm staying, so I mentioned the Marriott is where I think I'll head, so he offered me a lift. He said "I'm heading to bible study that way I'll drop you off." Oh crap what did I say over the last hour, raced through my head to which he furthered, "You can come with me if you want and repent your sins of what you may have said or thought of saying." but he was joking with me of course with a big smile. As I take him up on his generous offer (the lift only), I crawl into the front seat and see a stack of bibles and religious literature in the back seat and a Holy Bible tape in the cassette deck......was he joking....am I a heathan? Nope he was just kidding!!! We chat on the way and he asks me his thoughts on the recession and the new US Health Care plan. We talk indepth about the issues and how they affect Canada as well, getting into the whole Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac fiasco......alot to take in after the morning I'm having. But a great guy after all.

So I'm back at the Marriott, looking to take in the sites of Kalamazoo. 'What's to do in Kalamazoo?' you ask, don't know but will let you know next blog!!!