Finally!!!! After a new engine, new transmission cooling lines, tranny service, new muffler system, and new tires I think I am done! This has been a very trying 6 weeks! And dam expensive! But I am home and it feels darn good!
For the first time since this adventure has begun and the first time in my life homeless was a real feeling! It was flippin HORRIBLE!! Worst thing I have ever felt in the my life! My heart beating 1000 miles an hour for days, will it be fixed, can it be fixed, how long will I have to improvise before I have my home back.
As you all know or some of you anyway, if you are on my Facebook then you know. I have no credit, or a low credit score so same thing. I am still fighting to recover from trusting the people that said they cared! And will continue to fight until I am back where I deserve to be! I do not tell people for them to feel sorry for me. As some have suggested. But for you to know that no matter what, you can still stand proud! You can always take another step forward even if life sends you 10 steps back! Tomorrow is coming and maybe if you fight hard enough and strong enough it will be a better day! Believe it and it will be so!!! But only believing will not get you there! There has to be action! And even tho it is so easy to focus on the bad there is good in there! That is what you need to see and build from there.
Now I am in a good position. I have a good stable job that pays me well and has great benefits. Am I lucky? Hahaha! Hell no! I worked to get here! I started at the bottom and saw where I wanted to go and what I needed to do to get there and through a lot of sweat and sacrifice and hard work I am in a good position.
What happened and how did I handle it?
1st the engine blew! Ohhhh that’s bad. 800 kms or about 500 miles from anybody I knew. -22 C temperatures. Dam!!!!
The good part! I was already in a hotel for work. I had 3 weeks left on this assignment. So I had a roof over my head and a car rental place next door. So I have 3 weeks to get my van back up and running before it gets way to stupid expensive to live. How to do that? Floating the van back down south to mechanics down there. CAA was not going to cover that distance. Cost to float it down? Up to $1000 and then a new engine and I have to get myself back to it. Hmmmm. That’s a lot of money. This is where my social circle comes in. I am very blessed to have a wide network of friends! I belong to a very special vanning community. Within a day a friend (Peter) happened to know a friend (John) who was 2 hours away and did engine work and had a shop big enough to fit her and could start working on her right away! I ran out of hotel for 1 day! Went and picked her up and was running smooth! Phewww! Crisis averted!
On the way back about 1/2 way I felt a tearing pain in my chest. There was a moment I thought I was having a heart attack! I knew it was my gallbladder. I kept telling myself it was and I was right!! Now I get to do the I was right dance!! 💃 Woohoo! Carefully tho! Haha! Emergency surgery at Bracebridge hospital. This would be the first time in almost 30 years that I had been admitted to a hospital. The last time I was having a baby! Lol! I am not much for doctors. I think it’s the vulnerability of it all. I do not like needles and being trapped. Having that much pain and attached to an IV is definitely trapped! Hahaha! But they were all very competent and compassionate and over all it was a good experience! Well as good as it can be. They told me I would not be able to drive home. My friends Kim and Tom came and he took my van then I drove her and her car home! Hahaha! I am not much of a passenger and felt fine! I recover quickly! Which is another plus! 2 weeks off work and recovering in the comfort of home was just what I needed.
Then it happened. I was at work on a Friday. Thursday nights are usually girls night at my friends Diane’s when I am in the area. For what ever reason something told me I should go straight to her place. But it was Friday, I had groceries and laundry to do as I had another assignment in Peterbough (3 hours northeast) on Monday. Why was I getting told by my inner me to go there? Sometimes you just have to follow your intuition. So I went there. 10 min after I got there there was a large puddle of transmission fluid on the ground. My friend Mark (Diane’s husband) had a look on Saturday. Both transmission cooling lines were gone! We need a garage! Ugggggg! You have got to be kidding! And again friends to the rescue. My friend Mike knew a guy Jay that could do it that week! Phewwww! But now I still have to be at work at 4 am Monday, 3 hours from where I am now. How the heck am I going to get there???? I was on an assignment so a hotel was optional. Got sleeping covered. Now transportation! The answer. A beautiful sunny day and my 69. Had it been winter there was no way I could drive her. She was still in winter storage. Will she start right up? I will be pulling her out and running her for a 3 hour highway run. No breaking in. She will be pissy! And she was!! Lol! But she started right up and ran like a dream. When I got there I stopped to grab some groceries before going to the hotel and she did not want to start. Hahahaha! I stroked her a little and said nice things, works for most women, and she decided one more little trip and she and I could rest.
The Roadtrek was towed to the mechanic thanks to my friend Mark and new transmission cooler lines installed and a tranny service done. Waiting for the call that she was done was holding my breath. Again my hotel ran out on Friday. My 69 is a summer vehicle. She is not set up for cold temps and although the days were warmer, not warm let’s not get silly its May in Ontario, the nights are still cold and temps were dropping again. The phone call came and she would be ready on Saturday. Phewww! Lit a candle, climbed under the covers and had a nice Friday nights sleep in the 69. Knowing home was not far away!
So let’s go back to the credit score. It is only thing that is stopping me from upgrading. I put over $6000 into this van in the last 6 weeks. Luckily (not really luck but intelligence and sacrifice) I had that money!! That would have been a nice down payment on an upgrade but I could not get a loan because of my credit score. Not because I can not afford the payment but because some agency dictates I will not pay it back. By the way, they told me I could buy an $80,000 car or a $200,000 house but I can not get a $50,000 RV loan! WHAT???? Ever look at your credit report? I never did! Before all this happened I never had to worry about it. I have always been able to walk into a bank and get whatever I want. So I looked it up. I had paid off my creditor proposal early by 15 months. For the last 5 months I have been building or thought i had been building my credit score back up. It should have improved. But it had not. In fact it had gone down 4 points! WHAT??? So I make an inquiry. As it turns out I have 2 credit reports on file which is unheard of. Also none of the debt that paid off with the creditor proposal has been removed so all the effort in these last 5 months have been for nothing. I called to have it straightened out and was told 3-5 days but it’s been 7 and still nothing has changed. I will call again on Monday!
One of the most wonderful things about vanlife is living off the grid. Out of the clutches society puts on you! But if they can get a hold and bring you down they will. Make sure you are on top of what they control! By knowing my rights and figuring out how to enforce them I will always beat them at their own game!
In this game called life you not only have to be a survivor but also a warrior! I can do it! You can do it to!
This picture sits above my head as I sleep. It reminds me that the beauty that lies within is fierce but kind, strong but gentle, determined but patient (still working on the patient part but getting there! Lol) Whatever life has to throw at me I can and will conquer!
Blessed Be my friends!
And the Adventure continues!
See you next time!!
🐿️