After a great weekend at home...
I wanted to spend the August long weekend in Thamesford but was not feeling up to making the drive alone on Friday after work, nor did I want to spend the money to fly.... Being the resourceful young person that I am, I went online to Kijiji and searched the ride share listings to see if I could get in a carpool with some others to London. I found an ad for a ride to and from Waterloo on Friday afternoon and returning Monday afternoon. The location and timing worked, so I emailed back and forth with the guy a few times (then searched him on Facebook to verify some of these facts), and once I was relatively comfortable that he wasn't an axe murderer, I reserved a spot in his car.
Friday came and Driver (I will refer to the guy as Driver for the story) picked me up at my condo then we picked up two other girls downtown and headed out of the city around 4pm. Within seconds of the drive, it was determined that Driver did not have a working A/C in his car... Awesome. It was only about 35'C that afternoon so you can imagine that the drive was pretty sweaty. I was really glad I had opted out of the front seat because the sun was beating through the front window. Driver decided to take the Highway 7 route rather than the 401 all the way because he said his car didn't do well at 140km/h (his exact words were that it "starts to shake when I go over 120km.h" - sketchy sketchy sketchy), but about 30 minutes into the drive, he admitted that this was his first time driving home and he didn't really know the Highway 7 route well... Really? Not something I would want to be admitting to the people who are PAYING ME to drive them safely home. Driver was rather chatty and told us all about his car and how it was the first one he has owned and he got it for a great deal since his friend's mechanic "let it pass the safety"... Again, not something I would be telling my passengers when there's still 500+ kilometres to go. Luckily the drive home went relatively smoothly. The traffic was light and we made it to Waterloo before 10pm.
I had a great weekend at home with my family and friends. On Monday, Mom drove me back to Waterloo to meet up with Driver and his two new passengers for the return trip. The day was pretty muggy and the rain was already starting before we left KW so windows down was not going to be a great option. So, basically I began sweating when we left Waterloo and continued to do so for entire drive and I'm not a sweaty person normally so I can only imagine how the others were feeling. However, the A/C (or lack thereof) was the least of our troubles... Driver missed his cut-off and thus, we were taking the 401 the whole way. Around Kingston, the car started to feel like it was wobbling and about 10 seconds later "Bang!" the tire blows. Driver pulls off to the side of the highway and we determine that yes, the back right tire has blown (see photo below). He does have a donut and the ability to change it (which is great since he does NOT have CAA), so about 30 minutes later we are back on the highway...going 70km/h maximum... with our 4-ways flashing... and traffic hating us. We knew we couldn't stay on the highway with this tire and going the speed we were travelling but we thought we would head to Brockville where we might have a chance of finding someplace to get a real tire (this was very wishful thinking being that it was nearing 7pm on holiday Monday). Then we hear the sirens and see the flashing lights and yes. we are being pulled over by the police. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever been pulled over by the cops before but there is one thing you NEVER do and that is get out of your vehicle. So, what does our young Driver do? Yup, he immediately gets out of the car and starts to approach the police officer! The police officer then puts his hand on his holster and his other hand in the air and yells to Driver to "get back in the car, get back in the car!" I too am hissing at him to "Get his ass back in the car!". He does and the officer comes to my window which I roll down and we are told basically that we need to get off the highway with this unsafe car. He does agree that going the few more kilometres to Brockville is a good idea but he said there is no way we can go to Ottawa on that tire. F&#% was the word going through my head at this time... I was hot and sweaty and this guy's car was a complete lemon!
So there is a silver lining to this story and thankfully we did not have to stay in Brockville for the night. One of the other riders knew someone in Brockville and called them to see about where we might be able to get a tire. Her contact knew a mechanic who had a tire at his shop that we could buy and he would put it on for us. Thank the lord! After an hour in Brockville, we were back on the road. The car was silent and I think all of us were holding our breath, praying that this car was going to make it the last 150km without anything else bad happening.
Driver had the nerve to ask for the full price for driving us, but I can tell you he only got half from me. I understand that things happen that you can't avoid, especially with cars, BUT he knew his vehicle was not safe to be driving that speed and distance on the 401 and he did it anyway. I was less than impressed and hugely frustrated when I got home. Jenn and I had been chatting and texting back and forth for the last couple hours and she did have dinner ready for me when I got home - what a great roommate!
I took some photos on my iPhone of the tire changing debacle.
Next time I complain about the cost of travelling home, remind me of this gong show and I assure you I will be on the next flight out!
Friday came and Driver (I will refer to the guy as Driver for the story) picked me up at my condo then we picked up two other girls downtown and headed out of the city around 4pm. Within seconds of the drive, it was determined that Driver did not have a working A/C in his car... Awesome. It was only about 35'C that afternoon so you can imagine that the drive was pretty sweaty. I was really glad I had opted out of the front seat because the sun was beating through the front window. Driver decided to take the Highway 7 route rather than the 401 all the way because he said his car didn't do well at 140km/h (his exact words were that it "starts to shake when I go over 120km.h" - sketchy sketchy sketchy), but about 30 minutes into the drive, he admitted that this was his first time driving home and he didn't really know the Highway 7 route well... Really? Not something I would want to be admitting to the people who are PAYING ME to drive them safely home. Driver was rather chatty and told us all about his car and how it was the first one he has owned and he got it for a great deal since his friend's mechanic "let it pass the safety"... Again, not something I would be telling my passengers when there's still 500+ kilometres to go. Luckily the drive home went relatively smoothly. The traffic was light and we made it to Waterloo before 10pm.
I had a great weekend at home with my family and friends. On Monday, Mom drove me back to Waterloo to meet up with Driver and his two new passengers for the return trip. The day was pretty muggy and the rain was already starting before we left KW so windows down was not going to be a great option. So, basically I began sweating when we left Waterloo and continued to do so for entire drive and I'm not a sweaty person normally so I can only imagine how the others were feeling. However, the A/C (or lack thereof) was the least of our troubles... Driver missed his cut-off and thus, we were taking the 401 the whole way. Around Kingston, the car started to feel like it was wobbling and about 10 seconds later "Bang!" the tire blows. Driver pulls off to the side of the highway and we determine that yes, the back right tire has blown (see photo below). He does have a donut and the ability to change it (which is great since he does NOT have CAA), so about 30 minutes later we are back on the highway...going 70km/h maximum... with our 4-ways flashing... and traffic hating us. We knew we couldn't stay on the highway with this tire and going the speed we were travelling but we thought we would head to Brockville where we might have a chance of finding someplace to get a real tire (this was very wishful thinking being that it was nearing 7pm on holiday Monday). Then we hear the sirens and see the flashing lights and yes. we are being pulled over by the police. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever been pulled over by the cops before but there is one thing you NEVER do and that is get out of your vehicle. So, what does our young Driver do? Yup, he immediately gets out of the car and starts to approach the police officer! The police officer then puts his hand on his holster and his other hand in the air and yells to Driver to "get back in the car, get back in the car!" I too am hissing at him to "Get his ass back in the car!". He does and the officer comes to my window which I roll down and we are told basically that we need to get off the highway with this unsafe car. He does agree that going the few more kilometres to Brockville is a good idea but he said there is no way we can go to Ottawa on that tire. F&#% was the word going through my head at this time... I was hot and sweaty and this guy's car was a complete lemon!
So there is a silver lining to this story and thankfully we did not have to stay in Brockville for the night. One of the other riders knew someone in Brockville and called them to see about where we might be able to get a tire. Her contact knew a mechanic who had a tire at his shop that we could buy and he would put it on for us. Thank the lord! After an hour in Brockville, we were back on the road. The car was silent and I think all of us were holding our breath, praying that this car was going to make it the last 150km without anything else bad happening.
Driver had the nerve to ask for the full price for driving us, but I can tell you he only got half from me. I understand that things happen that you can't avoid, especially with cars, BUT he knew his vehicle was not safe to be driving that speed and distance on the 401 and he did it anyway. I was less than impressed and hugely frustrated when I got home. Jenn and I had been chatting and texting back and forth for the last couple hours and she did have dinner ready for me when I got home - what a great roommate!
I took some photos on my iPhone of the tire changing debacle.
Next time I complain about the cost of travelling home, remind me of this gong show and I assure you I will be on the next flight out!