Sunday morning we headed out of Chicago, fueled up our van, washed the windshield, even stopped to have a nice breakfast at a local diner. It was a beautiful start to our long stretch west...until we broke down again! Yet again our van stopped running on the highway forcing us to call AAA. It was certainly bad timing because it being sunday, we realized that there were not going to be any auto shops open to look at the van until the following morning. So we found a shop that said they could take it sunday night and look at it first thing ( 7am ) monday morning. That didn't happen. The guy took until 5pm to tell us what the problem was and by that time the dealer couldn't order the part we needed until the following day.(tuesday)
**Side note : Thank god Alyssa is still with us because if we didn't have another car we would have been completely stranded. There is nothing around here for miles. She is the BEST **
So we packed into Alyssa's subaru and headed for the nearest camp site, "Richard Bong Recreation Area". At first I didn't think much of it, my mind was mostly on the fact that I am hoping the van will be an easy fix, but then Celine pointed out something that was the weirdest coincidence.
About 3 years back my dad had given me a small sign that said "Bong Recreation Area Exit 340" that he bought at a yard sale in Massachusetts and has been hanging in my room ever since. It wasn't until we were on the highway that we noticed, we were now going to that same place! "Exit 340"...We figured it has to have come from this place. How many other Bong recreation areas are there? Especially ones that are Exit 340?? We figured it was just meant to be and we had to stay.
The reserve was very nice! There were tons of walking trails overlooking fields of wild flowers. There was a pond to fish in, and a lake to swim in. We didn't swim but i was lucky enough to take the kayak out for a spin.
So back to the reason we are still here in Wisconsin :/ ...The van. The guy at the shop couldn't find the issue and came up with the notion that it was the computer in the van not grounding out the ignition coil. Only issue I had with his diagnosis was that he wasn't even sure that was the issue and told me he wouldn't know until he went and bought a used one and put it in. I have been told from countless different people that when dealing with computers, you should NOT put a used one in because it could end up causing more issues than you originally had. In turn our only other option was to have it taken to a dealer to be fixed. We know that it is going to run us a lot of money, but we feel that it is the best route to take because we would also get the warrantee on the computer and the piece of mind that it is in fact getting fixed correctly. The only issue is, these parts are vehicle specific. That means we have to wait for the part to be ordered and delivered before we can have it put in and programmed. (what a pain in the butt) They said they will order the part and have it ready as early as they could wednesday, which is our best option(even though its going to cost $850 o.O) Another dealer told us we couldn't even be seen until next week!
Although we didn't plan on being in Wisconsin for anything more than just passing through, we have certainly made the best of a bad situation. Spirits are high, and we are doing our best to stay occupied and enjoy the state for what it has to offer. Currently that means, staying at "Happy Acres Campground" and using their hiking trails, bathroom/shower amenities, and their nice clean swimming pool!( OH YEA, and they have llamas, goats, and other small farm animals on site haha) We also got some cheese, obviously, and had lunch at the Mars Cheese Castle which was really good.
As nice as Wisconsin is, I can't wait to move on out of here tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment