"Soon life will become more interesting."
Considering that this was what my fortune cookie last night said, and given that the Chinese proverb is more of a curse than a blessing, maybe I should have seen it as an omenous warning.
Trixstir and I are in Calgary, having arrived on Friday night to take in the Supertrain 2015 model railroader exhibition. The trip out was pretty much uneventful, which is the way that you want 5+ hour road-trips to be. I had noticed the wheels making a thrumming sound, but I suspected that this was just the sound of the winter tires running on dry pavement, and didn't give it much more thought that than. On Saturday, Trixstir and I noticed the van making other odd sounds, but I wasn't able to quite pinpoint what it might have been. I couldn't see anything underneath the van that might have accounted for the sounds, and having Trixstir drive slowly around me in circles didn't reveal anything either. It wasn't until this morning, as I was starting to run a couple of errands I needed to take care of before we headed back that it dawned on me. I was alone in the van this time, and was able to better concentrate on the sound and where it was coming from.
The first thing I realized was that the thrumming sound I had been hearing was not coming from the winter tires. All four of the tires were winter tires, and while they are noisier on dry pavement than regular tires, they don't make that much noise unless you have studs in (and we don't.) Furthermore, the sound was only coming from the one tire - the same wheel that seemed to be making the other sounds. That's when it dawned on me: I knew that sound, and I knew what it meant. That was the omenous cry of a wheel bearing in its dreath-throes, and if it wasn't fixed very soon, the damages would escalate considerably. I finished the one errand (I was already there) and then limped the van back to Mom's house. From there I found the nearest GMC dealership and called them. "Bring it right in," they said, "We can start on it right away!" This was good, because I really wanted to be back in Shaunavon tonight, as I'm expecting a large shipment of inventory any day now, and I've got customers bringing things in.
The dealership (Southgate GMC in Calgary) was pretty close to Mom's place, and very neat and tidy. The staff seem to be polite and efficient, and the shop is the cleanest garage I have ever seen. They called shortly after lunch to tell me what they found; As I expected, the left rear rotor and hub are shot, and the front brake pads are worn past the safe limits as well (not surprised about that either.) The total, including taxes, was estimated around $781.00, which is far less than I had feared. Still a good chunk of money, but about 1/3 of what I had expected. They expect that it will be ready tomorrow morning by 9am, so I'm only going to be one day later than I had expected. I'm pretty sure the world won't end if I'm one day behind schedule. I haven't heard anything from Andy, who's keeping an eye out for delivery trucks for me, so I know there was no shipment today. If it arrives tomorrow, Andy will help them unload it, but I'm really hoping the delivey won't arrive until Wednesday, so I can be there to personally take care of it.
In the meantime, we're taking advantage of our unexpected extended stay to mee up with some friends tonight, who we would have otherwise missed because the weekend was a whirlwind of activity for everyone. That forementioned fortune-cookie, BTW, was from Mom's birthday supper that we shared last night. Mom's birthday isn't for a few more days, but we figured we'd celebrate it while the whole family was together here in town. We ordered in Chinese Food from one of Mom's favourite take-out places, and other than that cursed cookie, it was very good. Here's hoping this hiccup is the only "interesting" thing that cookie was referring to!
Trixstir and I are in Calgary, having arrived on Friday night to take in the Supertrain 2015 model railroader exhibition. The trip out was pretty much uneventful, which is the way that you want 5+ hour road-trips to be. I had noticed the wheels making a thrumming sound, but I suspected that this was just the sound of the winter tires running on dry pavement, and didn't give it much more thought that than. On Saturday, Trixstir and I noticed the van making other odd sounds, but I wasn't able to quite pinpoint what it might have been. I couldn't see anything underneath the van that might have accounted for the sounds, and having Trixstir drive slowly around me in circles didn't reveal anything either. It wasn't until this morning, as I was starting to run a couple of errands I needed to take care of before we headed back that it dawned on me. I was alone in the van this time, and was able to better concentrate on the sound and where it was coming from.
The first thing I realized was that the thrumming sound I had been hearing was not coming from the winter tires. All four of the tires were winter tires, and while they are noisier on dry pavement than regular tires, they don't make that much noise unless you have studs in (and we don't.) Furthermore, the sound was only coming from the one tire - the same wheel that seemed to be making the other sounds. That's when it dawned on me: I knew that sound, and I knew what it meant. That was the omenous cry of a wheel bearing in its dreath-throes, and if it wasn't fixed very soon, the damages would escalate considerably. I finished the one errand (I was already there) and then limped the van back to Mom's house. From there I found the nearest GMC dealership and called them. "Bring it right in," they said, "We can start on it right away!" This was good, because I really wanted to be back in Shaunavon tonight, as I'm expecting a large shipment of inventory any day now, and I've got customers bringing things in.
The dealership (Southgate GMC in Calgary) was pretty close to Mom's place, and very neat and tidy. The staff seem to be polite and efficient, and the shop is the cleanest garage I have ever seen. They called shortly after lunch to tell me what they found; As I expected, the left rear rotor and hub are shot, and the front brake pads are worn past the safe limits as well (not surprised about that either.) The total, including taxes, was estimated around $781.00, which is far less than I had feared. Still a good chunk of money, but about 1/3 of what I had expected. They expect that it will be ready tomorrow morning by 9am, so I'm only going to be one day later than I had expected. I'm pretty sure the world won't end if I'm one day behind schedule. I haven't heard anything from Andy, who's keeping an eye out for delivery trucks for me, so I know there was no shipment today. If it arrives tomorrow, Andy will help them unload it, but I'm really hoping the delivey won't arrive until Wednesday, so I can be there to personally take care of it.
In the meantime, we're taking advantage of our unexpected extended stay to mee up with some friends tonight, who we would have otherwise missed because the weekend was a whirlwind of activity for everyone. That forementioned fortune-cookie, BTW, was from Mom's birthday supper that we shared last night. Mom's birthday isn't for a few more days, but we figured we'd celebrate it while the whole family was together here in town. We ordered in Chinese Food from one of Mom's favourite take-out places, and other than that cursed cookie, it was very good. Here's hoping this hiccup is the only "interesting" thing that cookie was referring to!