Continued

We drove back to the Westy together and put all his gear in the Super's Tahoe, exchanged phone numbers and he left for Kamloops.

He'll be back in Vancouver tonight, and we'll get together and get his truck back to him. I just wanted to share this story of blind trust with you all. A complete stranger whose only tie with us was his ex-Westy gave us his company SUV to get home safely in ease and comfort.

Oh, we called BCAA from a phone booth in Lytton and asked them to tow it to Bunnies and Bugs in Chilliwack. When I called them this morning to ask if the van got there okay and mention the fuel pump relays, I got a message saying that they were closed today, but would return calls first thing Tuesday!

Sunday was April Fool's Day, right?

Thanks for your interest, Jake.

On 4/2/07, Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com> wrote: > > Good Morning All. > > I got home late last night from a really great week teaching String Bass > and playing music at the 108 Mile Ranch Bluegrass Workshop in the Cariboo > Country of BC. > > We were on the way home in Tim's 84 Westy and things were going fine,. The > temperature was just above freezing and it snowing lightly, but we were > still warm from the amazing people we met at the workshop. > > We stopped at a pullout over the Thompson River to pee and to admire the > view of the mountain opposite. As Tim put it into Park, the motor did a > little rev -drop -rev-drop shuffle, then he shut it off. > > It wouldn't re-start. It cranked fine and fired, but didn't seem to have > the fuel to sustain combustion, so I went in search of the fuel pump > relays. First we had to shift the two string basses, three guitars, banjo > and mandolin that were strapped into the bed area. > Of course, being the banjo player's van there were no tools in it > whatsoever, so I couldn't really do anything but look at the relays and of > course there was no cell phone signal. > > As I was leaning in with the wind and snow blowing harder and the > temperature dropping I saw a northbound white SUV slow down and back up to > come over to where we were. > > The driver, a manager with CN Rail, said that he used to have a Westy and > did we need some help. After hearing our story, he offered to take us with > him to Kamloops where we could at least use the phone etc. I mentioned the > valuable collection of instruments filling the van, and he offered to leave > some of his gear in the VW so we could take our stuff with us. > After thinking for a minute, he turned around and we went south to > Lytton, to the temporary works yard that CN is renting from the Lytton band > while the RR does some repairs in the Canyon. When we got there he left us > in the Ford and went to talk to his Supervisor. He came back with two Beef > Stroganoff dinners for us and told us that he was going to take his > colleagues car to Kamloops and let us take his home! > > -- > Jake > 1984 Vanagon GL > 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie" > www.crescentbeachguitar.com

-- Jake 1984 Vanagon GL 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie" www.crescentbeachguitar.com