This morning i drove around to the only three garages in this town of 1187 people. One does only body work, one is closed till Tuesday, and the third cannot take me till Thursday. I thought about driving during the day to my next camp, or the last one, and find a mechanic there, but they are all in small towns and i might encounter the same situation there too. And i need to find a garage that is near a camp since i have to walk there and back. I also cannot leave Donner alone and have to take him with me wherever i go.
While i get satisfaction from solving problems on these trips, it seems that that is all i am doing on this trip, and that is not why I take them. But when they happen, i have no choice but to deal with them.
For all i know, i have been without headlights for the entire 2200 mikes so far. I do not drive at night and do not get out of my vehicle to see if the lights are in. If they had gone out at that start of the trip, and i caught that, i could have turned around and remedied the problem there.
If for some reason the Defender is not repairable here, i am not going to take my chances elsewhere, and instead of shipping it back home, i may consider driving it home during the day and staying in accommodations near the interstate. Four hundred miles a day will take me six days. Since it gets dark in places by 5, i would have to be off the road by 3.
If it is repaired, and i have the confidence to continue the trip, Banff and Vancouver Island are already scratched. I will have to think about my options because of the time of year it is.
No headlights seems like a simple thing, but this is not. The headlights are fine, but its the electrical work that's causing the trouble. That is not so simple. Even my mechanic back home couldn't fix it.
Now i have to go back to my tent and work on my options.
Ed
PS...by the way, this is not the Sundance of the film festival and Robert Redford. That is in Utah.
