Some Days are Diamonds, Some are Coal

Yesterday was the first day of our new life as travelling full-time RVers. The day started out as a diamond. Beautiful weather. Delivered Tara to the  dog sitter for a 10 day stay and dog-free holiday for us (she is going to the farm for her holiday). Had a delicious breakfast at Rhubarb Cafe and Grill. We cleaned and prepared the Adventure Bus to go. Pulled out into Bay Hammocks parking lot to attach the dolly and load the car, leaving our 3 month home looking lonely:

And then the day rapidly turned into coal.

In the excitement of the moment Arch drove the car over the end of the dolly:

Oh my! This was not good.

The business next to Bay Hammocks runs a car-towing service but no one was there. So Arch called them and Jamie, the owner sent out a man to have a look and decide what was to be done. He brought a couple of jacks with him which he mounted on these boards to raise the car off the dolly. No such luck.

Jamie was called again and he decided to round up several guys and they would lift the car off the dolly. They all arrived in an hour or so and that is exactly what they did.

So with the car properly loaded Arch jumped in the Adventure Bus to start it. Fail!! The motor appeared to be dead. After canvassing several neighbours they found someone who had a set of jumper cables and attempted to get the thing started.  

No way. The motor simply would not turn over. So then they decided the starter was gone and Jamie hopped in his truck and headed to Dartmouth (45 minutes away) to get a new one.

He arrived back one and a half hours later and installed the new starter. Still nothing. So one of his men crawled under the Adventure Bus to see what was wrong.

I think he is under there somewhere. Oh, here is a foot, so there must be a person attached!

After much discussion, wiggling and jiggling of wires and a lot of bad language the Adventure Bus finally started. But that was not a solution because, if we turned the motor off, we would have to go through the same procedure again. And, by now it was 5:30pm. 

Arch made the decision that we would take the Adventure Bus to Homestead Auto Repair, 10 kms down the road The owner used to be a service manager at a Ford dealership and knows everything there is to know about Ford trucks. They also did a lot of work on the Adventure Bus. We settled up with Jamie (his bill was very reasonable considering all the effort he and several of his men put into getting us going)  loaded up and off we went. 

Homestead was closed but the owner lives next door so we got his (actually, his wife's) permission to sleep there over night - our first Boondocking experience! Our favourite little dining spot - The Finer Diner - was right across the road so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out watching the sun set over St. Margaret's Bay.

A small reward for a very trying day!

The next day the Adventure Bus was repaired and ready to go by 10 am and off we went. Tonight we are parked in Arch's sister(Grace's) driveway in Truro, NS. We will stay here for two days. Tonight we played cards with Grace and her husband Cyril. Tomorrow golf at Fox Harb'r and then on to PEI on Thursday.

By the way, if you are on Facebook and would like to keep up with us on a daily basis please like our page: https://www.facebook.com/TheAccidentalRVers I will be posting daily updates there and writing on this blog when once or twice a week as events happen.