A funny thing happened on the way to the airport...

A week ago, Melissa and I were on our way to the Syracuse airport to catch a plane to Florida. We were leaving on a cruise. Flights (and parking) are much cheaper from SYR than Ottawa. It's worth the drive. Driving the 94 blue Caprice wagon you've seen at the Fest, btw. We were about an hour into the drive, not yet at the US border. On a side road, going about 45mph. There was a sweeping right bend, and the pavement was really bad. Think washboard gravel road, and that would be about right. Going through the curve, Melissa exclaimed "bumpy!", and I knew something was wrong. Did a quick side to side swerve, and on the right swerve I was greeted by a bad shimmy. Got the car slowed and off the road immediately. Popped the hatch, and pulled out the tire wrench. Right rear wheel was good. Left rear, not so much. Two loose lugs, and three sheared studs. Did I mention it was -20? I check the time, and realize that we are not going to make our flight. So... the emergency plan goes into effect (you know, the one that you make up as you go).

First phone call is to Diesel Bill. We're about 20 min down the road from his place. I'm thinking I can borrow a car and still get to SYR. He just offers to drive us since he needs the car. Ok, we might just make that flight after all. I remind him to bring the passport! Next call is to CAA. Tell them we need a flatbed, and the keys will be in the car when he gets there. No dice, we have to be with the car. Ok, they promise they can be there in 30 min. Not bad, considering it is -20 and snowing. One more look at the clock makes me realize that time is stacking up against us. Call three is to mom. She is always on standby when we are traveling, and this wouldn't be the first time that we have had to call on her to sort something out. I quickly explain the situation, and she tells me she will get to work.

Bill arrives in about 20 min, with a Cadillac that looks more like an iceberg. He dug it out of a snowbank to come to us. Mom calls back, and tells me that we have seats on a plane out of Ottawa later that afternoon. Hey, it's only money, right? In the meantime, mom gets back on the phone to Jet Blue to see if we can get a credit for the flights that we are about to miss.

Tow truck shows up, and Bill simply says, "take it to my place". He'll take care of it while we are away. So, off the convoy goes to Bill's house. We drop the wounded wagon, and try and warm up for a couple more minutes before piling back in the ice Caddy for the drive to the airport. We coordinate contact info with mom and Bill, so they can keep in touch since we won't have internet. Once there, said our good-byes to Bill, and tried to start to relax for our trip.

Got home yesterday evening. Bill picked us up at the airport in my repaired wagon. Five new studs and nuts. We dropped him off, and headed home. The car ran fine.

It never ceases to amaze me what a good bunch of guys we have here. Bill, who I wouldn't have made my vacation without. Nick, who would do anything, anytime, to give someone a hand. The list of guys who have personally helped me out at one time or another is crazy. I know I will leave someone out, but I'm talking about guys like Tom, Tim, Jarrod, Jason, Fred... we are lucky. It is an honour to be part of this wagon community.

Thank you,
Jason.

PS:
On to the car stuff. I can think of three possible causes for the wheel problem. First is that two lugs backed off, and the force on the remaining three was too great. Second, that corner has a bad shock, and the broken road caused the tire to bounce rapidly, causing stress. Third... this one may cause controversy. Remember our thread about torquing dry lugs vs lubed? Well, the school shop installed my winter wheels this year after I mounted new snows. They always put copper anti-seize on lugs on everything. I personally checked the torque at 100ft-lbs, though. I know they weren't gun tight at 400, either. They are not allowed to use the gun to run nuts down.

I think the answer is a combination of the first two. I'll order some new rear shocks tomorrow. Mac Woody first pointed out my shock issue last summer when we were convoying to Maine. He noted that my back left tire was bouncing at high frequency. I had just re-balanced my wheels in an attempt to correct this vibe, so I realized then that it was the shock. Should have changed the shocks as soon as Sean told me. As an aside, I double checked every nut on the other wheels. All are fine.

Good guys are priceless when you are in a bind! Glad it all worked out!

Thanks Jason for the great story about these guys and the information on following up on the
breakage.Glad your vacation went as planned and dont forget to thank Mom.
Jim

Once again proof that this is an amazing community! Way to go, Bill!

Jason, you are correct, there are a bunch of good guys here on this forum.

Some know this story, but probably most don't. We went to the Mid Atlantic Wagon Fest and had a great time. Thanks Mike P. (DbeaSSt) and Chris (Brokecello). We decided to stay a couple of extra days. My wife was a good sport about doing my stuff, so now it was her turn.

Well, the afternoon before we were going to leave, the transmission says I'm not going anywhere. Thanks, 700 miles from home. The easy part was renting a car, but now what do I do with this thing. Mike immediately offered to let me park it at his house and told me park it on his pad that he had for his utility trailer. That took care of my immediate problem. Tim offered help and a place to stay if I needed it.

Anyways got home had offers of help from Jay SS and Noel (NHGonzo) who offered to go down and get it with me. He has a young family and I appreciated that offer. Luckily, I was able to find a car carrier coming back from FL to NH for a reasonable fee, but I needed to get the wagon where the hauler could easily pick it up. Again Mike comes to the rescue.

Anyways, that's what type of guys are on the forum. I hope I didn't leave out anyone.

Tom C.

Wait a second, Jay you came down here and didn't call? Only kidding, I know you probably were in, on the boat, back and on a plane home.

Glad to hear it all worked out. I've been in similar situations and had good friends come to the rescue, once, I was at a waterfront bar in my boat with to hot hot hot ladies, and the battery died, made a call and had my buddy head over and we took the battery out of his car and made it happen.

It's awesome that Bill was able to help you out.
This is definitely the most helpful community I've seen. Jay has gone out of his way to help me multiple times.

Sprocket wrote:

I've been in similar situations and had good friends come to the rescue, once, I was at a waterfront bar in my boat with to hot hot hot ladies, and the battery died, made a call and had my buddy head over and we took the battery out of his car and made it happen.

Do what? Now Jay being stuck roadside in -20° weather wanting to be rescued I can see. You're stranded at Gilligan's Pub with Ginger & Maryann because the battery on the SS Minnow died and you wanted to be rescued?

Good stuff. That was very kind of Bill. For future reference, I'm about 10 minutes from the Syracuse airport - if you're ever in the area and need help, I'm here.

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Sprocket wrote:

I've been in similar situations and had good friends come to the rescue, once, I was at a waterfront bar in my boat with to hot hot hot ladies, and the battery died, made a call and had my buddy head over and we took the battery out of his car and made it happen.

Do what? Now Jay being stuck roadside in -20° weather wanting to be rescued I can see. You're stranded at Gilligan's Pub with Ginger & Maryann because the battery on the SS Minnow died and you wanted to be rescued?

ROTFLMFAO!!!

southern boys just have no idea what it takes to survive up here,.

Tom you and mike should have dropped the trans out, dropped it at a shop for repair,. then re-installed and drove it home,. now that would have been a story!! kinda like the canadian doofus souperman and his trans at the nats a few years back,. re-re'd and rebuilt in the parking lot of the host hotel,.too bad he was not as grateful as he should have been,.


i would like to add tho,. i think that just about any travelling wagon member on this forum could reach out for help in a tight situation, and i really think that there would be numerous offers for assistance if within reasonable distance etc,. It,s an exclusive club that i think everyone belongs to,.

Nick

Good story Jason,thanks for sharing and definitely made me proud to post.

Not a bit suprised that Bill was to the rescue,thumbs up Bill.

Lorne.

Don't worry, Joel. You would have been my first phone call if I was past Watertown!

lol, J Lachapelle thanks me. This coming from the guy that took the hood off his car, installed an old rusty hood from a parts car, drove 1500 miles, threw away the hood, bolted on a ram air hood with bad paint, had to have his car look like this for a month while on training, then drove home with my hood. Oh, and stored the hood in a crowded single car garage. Uh, yeah, I don't mind helping out every now and then! Like this week, when we change your rad

Yeah, Sprocket, I was heartbroken to not see you. We did have a big balcony on the ship. You could have set up a tent.

what color was your wagon? a week ago i happened to be headed up to ottawa and saw an awesome looking roadmaster wagon heading in the opposite direction. i had to take a double look as there are virtually no roadmaster or caprice wagons in my area.

That may have been Jason Lachapelle. Did it have black wheels? DCM with wood? My current wagon is a blue no-wood Caprice.

Bill,

Great job man!!! I love this forum.

Tim

jayoldschool wrote:

That may have been Jason Lachapelle. Did it have black wheels? DCM with wood? My current wagon is a blue no-wood Caprice.

it was a darker color wagon, had wood i think. i forget what the wheels were like. think it may have had some stickers on the rear quarter glass. i saw it either on the 401 just before the 416 or just as i got on the 416. either way it was neat seeing another one.

Well Gosh. Now my head is all swollen up .

Really was no biggy. Jay was stuck, was only 20 minutes south of here and the Caddy needed a run. Was stuck behind this computer for 3 days straight and needed the diversion. As it turned out the Ottawa airport is only 20 minutes north of here and two hours later had the car here, new flights arranged, Jay and Melissa warmed up and enscounced at the airport.

Nothings worse than being that close to a vacation and having something as simple as this drive a stake through your plans. Been there done that. Glad I could be of some help. Alls well that ends well.

Bill

benn wrote:

jayoldschool wrote:

That may have been Jason Lachapelle. Did it have black wheels? DCM with wood? My current wagon is a blue no-wood Caprice.

it was a darker color wagon, had wood i think. i forget what the wheels were like. think it may have had some stickers on the rear quarter glass. i saw it either on the 401 just before the 416 or just as i got on the 416. either way it was neat seeing another one.

Theres a 94 MAB no wood around here that belongs to an old fellow and I still see my old diesel conversion driving around (dark blue no wood). Don't know the new owner.

Bill

Your diesel conversion car made it on Jalopnik, actually.

That's a tough situation to have been in what with the whole vacation about to start without you. I'm sure you must have mortified when you saw that wheel! Any day but today! It's no surprise other wagon guys were ready to help; some of the stories I've heard of people here really going above and beyond to help someone out of a jam, or help them with a project. The camaraderie and helpfulness of our little group here is truly one of a kind. The best folk really are wagon folk!

Great story and really good to hear about how folks help each other out on this forum.

-20.....you folks in the great white north are TOUGH!!

Glad it all worked out. Wish there were more wagon folks down here!

-Mike

For all you youngsters here is classic great white north..... Ay!!

"I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it eh......."



Hosers....

[quote="Olds Weighty Eight] You're stranded at Gilligan's Pub with Ginger & Maryann because the battery on the SS Minnow died and you wanted to be rescued? [/quote]

It wasn't being rescued, so much as it parlayed into the romantic ocean voyage that ensued once the boat got started. Oh and my friend was, ahem, very grateful to come for tthat boat ride.....


Jay, there is always next time you come to visit, just give me a heads up and we'll hook up.

As far as vacations getting the stake driven through them, just last September I was on my way to Miami at 5:30 AM. Actaully my buddy was 10 minutes late, which may have been a good thing, for 10 miles down the interstate we came over an overpass and there was a ball of flame in the left 2 lanes. Turned out it happened 10 min earlier and we could have easily been involved.

A tractor trailer going north lost and axle with two wheels attached and it jumped the retaining wall and hit a Lexus. That lady was okay with many glass cuts as the tires landed on her hood, smashed the winshield on their way over the top. Following her was a Crown Vic and he slammed on his brakes. The guy behind the CV in the GM pickup did no such braking and slammed the Ford in the rear crunching the bumper all the way to the C pillar. The car erupted immediately in flame and the driver of the Ford did not survive.

We got to the scene before the rescue trucks and people were slipping around on the shoulder to get by. THere was no helping the guy in the burning car as flames were 25 feet in the air. We were two cars from getting by it all when the cop stops the car in front of us so the rescue trucks can get by. We than sat there for 90 minutes as they took crime scene photos, removed the corpse, etc.

Dont' get me wrong, I genuinely felt bad for the deceased and his family and gave me alot to think about, but I was watching my week long vacation fly away on non-refundable tickets. We finally got out of there and got to the airport about an hour before our flight. Problem is international flights close 90 minutes out. Luckily the people at TACA (airline) were VERY understanding and at their cost, put us on an American flight that got us to Costa Rica 2 hours later.

Had I flown a domestic owned airline, I don't think they would have helped us out at all. By that gesture TACA has won my heart for all my Latin American travels.