Comfortably ensconced in La Quinta Hotel. Speaking for Donner, this sure beats those cold tents.
Spent the day working on plans A, drive Defender home, B, ship the Defender home and rent a car to get us home, and C, leave the Defender here and come back for it latter.
Drove the Defender -with great care- one mile to the Land Rover dealer this morning after downloading what we will need into the hotel. A lot of clanging. The Land Rover staff was extremely helpful, but suggested some other mechanics better suited to handle this. One looks very promising. He will evaluate the problem tomorrow and then i will decide what to do.
The problem with taking the Defender on the road is that it is difficult to find mechanics who can work in it, or even have the special tools required. It's the risk i take on these trips, willingly
The worst part about these unprogrammed layovers is that they are an abrupt change of pace from what preceded them, and i do mean abrupt. Fortunately, i have the work on plans to keep me busy. The danger is the Patty Hearst syndrome.
But the one thing you can always count on is the willingness of total strangers to help out, much in evidence here . And that started right from the beginning of this saga with the people who stopped at the 176th Street exit to ask if i needed help, e,g., the woman in the Jeep and Chris Wallace (both were awarded On The Road patches), and, if course, Phil from the towing company with whom i exchanged stories for four hours during the drive to Wichita, and whose advice was superb.
Best case scenario is that i am back on the road Saturday. Worse case, three weeks. But in case of the latter, i will probably ship the Defender back to DC.
Ed and Donner, from the road)
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