Allergic To Wet

Right now Dave, Matty and I are suppose to be down in Georgia for the week visiting family. We even left on Thursday at 10:30 am to get to our first stop early and spend some time with Dave's sister and family. We should have arrived at 3:30 pm. Instead we rolled in at 11:00pm.

We made it about an hour and a half into our trip when all of a sudden, the car started to bump and thump and stop. Dave worked some of his magic to get the car to keep going but it only lasted a short while. We chugged and puffed for a while until we could get off the highway and into a garage. They were too busy to take a good look at the car but agreed to look at it breifly. After testing some of the plugs in the engine, they determined that two of them werent working and would need to be replaced. Dave tried explaining an electric problem but they were certain it was the plugs, so we headed to the Canadian Tire to buy some new plugs. We replaced them and were on our way again (this took about an hour and a half). We drove a little while longer and our car acted up again. This time we were near Napanee. So, we worked the car to the exit and came to a GM dealership. We figured they might have a diagnostic test for the Golf and if not, they might see the problem. In we went and were told we would have wait ahead of us. They were right! We were there for at least three hours waiting for some results. They couldnt do the test since our car isnt one of their makes and they werent sure what the problem was but they thought it might be the ignition coil. We had to wait for one to be delivered from a neighbouring town. Once it arrived, they replaced it, tested it and found that the car still acted up. So, we were charged $300 for the work and they told us they had knocked off a bunch of the expenses. We decided we should at least try to get to Chris and Melissa's to rest and decide what to do next so we braved the car once more. Believe it or not, we made it the rest of the way with no hassle. We were so surprised. Was the car really better???

Initially we were going to leave on Friday morning for Georgia but because of our late night and crazy day, we decided to spend the day with Melissa and Chris. We went into St. Catherines and went to the book depot and tried to get a part for the car that we thought could help the mysterious issue but they didnt have one. It as a very nice day and the car seemed to be cured. So, at 3:00 am on Valentines day we set out for Georgia hopeful to get through the boarder and have no more troubles. We made it so close to the border (after 2 hours of driving) when the car died again. I guess it wasnt the ignition coil. $300 for nothing. We turned around and went as far as we could, taking rests where the car died to let it sit until we made it to London. In London we attempted to find a garage but nothing was open. So, we just tried to get home. Guess what? We made it home without an issue. Apparently as we headed South, the car got angry and said "umm, no, I want to go home!" and we broke down.

Matty was so fantastic. We were traveling for 26 hours total and Matthew didnt make an unhappy peep until we were about 30 minutes away from home. And even then, it was barely a whine.

We also realized that every time we broke down it was wet outside. It was pouring rain on Thursday and when the car got too wet, it broke down. Once we were finished in Napanee, the weather had changed and it was dry. near the boarder it had started to snow and the car got wet and once we got to London, it was sunny and dry and everything had dried up in the car.

So, we had a very unsuccessful attempt at a vacation and found out that our car is allergic to the wet. Should be interesting in the next couple of days since it is calling for snow. I might be stuck at home for the rest of the week. Better than in the car I must admit.