Saturday, July 11, 2009

Oz Rally: Oh, Pedr'oh!!!

Penny! Fiona's niece. Her B-day is on 4th July. Not only is she adorable, her British accent was really cute. Goodwood Festival of Speed Take-Off, 4th July '09

London to Sydney! 22,000 Miles Va-Va-Vroom!!!


Arriving at the Euro Tunnel, Pedro draws a crowd

Pedro won't start and Recovey is called.

Trevor & Paul: First Mechanics to assist with Pedro

Trying to enter the train. Pedro has stalled. Oh, No~


We made it inside and headed for Calais, France!


Fiona maps out the France >Belgium route

Made it to Belgium and people celebrate our arrival, ;'*)

Then we run out of petrol! LOL!

I thought Jerry cans were for lawnmovers, I helped!

Pedro stalls, Again, and more friendly folks stop to help

At least we made it to Belgium, but are we ever going to make it out?

Pedro is still misbehaving & the French guys give it a try

This is where I went, Yipee!!

Love the French! Pascal rocks!

Out of fuel, Again! D' guys hook us up. I'm mortified but still can't stop laughing!

This is the longest day, Ever!
Made it Camping!

and, landed a primo spot!

Love these Guys!
Vous êtes les meilleurs, merci pour tout!

Day 1: England, France, Belgium

90950- Left Ash's, Shane's, and Fynn's house for Goodwood
90958- 12L
91091- 16L (16.49 GBP) Goodwood bound! Got the idea to keep a Mileage Journal, bc, since Pedro does not have a fuel gauge I was going to have to write all this down, anyways!
91100- July 4th '09!! Give me Liberty or Give me Death! Goodwood Festival of Speed Motor Circuit for official take-off!
91104- First casualty! Driver side mirror broke while driving on the motorway, Kapoot!!!LOL!
91091- 16L (16.49 GBP)
91273- Euro Channel >France bound
------ When we first arrived at the EC we were cut off and had to wait for the next train. Fiona was livid.
----- First Breakdown and we have NOT even left England! We were first in line to board the underwater train when Pedro would not start. When Fiona tried to turn the key, Nothing!
----- Recovery was called and we missed the train, again. Paul and Trevor told us the starter motor was jammed and to get it going again we would have to bang it with a mallet. This was sooo embarrasing bc all sort of people kept staring at us! Lol! I mean, Pedro would stalled, and then all you saw was a girl running to the back of the car to hit the engine with a mallet, yell at another girl to turn the key, which of course, was never successful the very first time. Then when Fiona would get back in the car, Pedro would shut down, and the whole thing was repeated all over again. Yep, at least 3 times in 10 minutes while we were trying to board the train in a single file line with loads of cars behind us. Soo, stressfull!
91275- France! Landed in Calais, Pedro started, Vroom, Vroom, Yeah!
91276- 34L (43 EU) + 1 Jerry Can 17L (Total= 66.70 EU) Fiona also suspecting more break-downs bought herself the compulsory reflective emergency jacket one must wear in case of a break down.
91380- Belgium! Going to the Volkswagon Bug-In in Chimay!!! -and, hopefully get Pedro fix
91408- No signs to Chimay, ANYWHERE! 1st time getting lost, just a little. Bathroom break at Mcdonalds, always clean! and we ate dinner here. LOL!
91439- 1st time running out of Petrol, used 17L 1 Jerry Can, it is about 2230 We are seriously crying and laughing at the same time.
----- More troubles starting the car because not only is Pedro misbehaving, well, now we are messing him up. There was air in the fuel 'thingie' and he 'flooded' and well he refused to start. Poor Pedro, he sounded all choked up. Fiona also lost the fuel cap. Something about the fuel 'thingie' and pressure and the Petrol not making it to the belly, and whatnots. Pedro was all messed up!
91445- Pedro stopped in the middle of the road and Fiona and I banged and banged and banged and he STILL refused to start. A nice young Belgium couple with very limited English stopped to help us and Pedro was pushed to the grass on the side of the road. 1st time wearing the nifty compulsory reflective emergency jackets. They called their friend to help us.
----- We thought maybe he was depleted of Petrol, therefore, the friend and I went to the station with an empty Jerry Can. Station closed and my debit card was rejected bc it didn't have the chip that all EU cards have.
----- Saw some buggies driving by (many around bc of the show) and I jumped onto the middle of the road to stop them.
----- It was 4 French guys in two separate buggies who claimed they were drunk and wondering why an American girl was jumping out into the dark street (I was wearing my reflective vest!) to stop them. They looked confused. A little bit of Frenglish between both parties and they decided to help. Now, it is like 0130
----- We all headed back with an empty Jerry Can to where Pedro, Fiona, and the Belgium couple were at (about 5 min away). We bid farewell to the Belgium couple who at this time were holding a toddler baby girl and she was pregnant (we did not know there was a baby in the car), the husband, and their firend. They were so sweet, by this time, they had stuck around for about 3 hours, and Pascal took over the mechanics. When I tried to hand her back her reflective jacket, she said, "It is yours, Souvenir." I gave them some sweetcakes and the little girl an American flag.
----- The French guys were from Paris attending the Bug-In in Belgium and we decided to follow them back to the Camping.
91458- While following the French guys, Pedro stops, AGain! It is 0145! and the French guys work on the engine until 0315!
----- Emergency! Emergency! I have been holding it for like 3-4 hours and could not any longer. Everything surrounding us was open. The only place I could get 'privacy' was a glass covered bus shelter, Yep! I did it! "When you gotta go, you gotta go!" "My apologies to the people of Chimay!"
91463- YEP! AGAIN! Pedr'OH!!!Pedro runs out of Petrol, again! We had already used the Petrol in the Jerry Can, therefore, Pascal gave us some from his own fuel tank. Fiona and I are still crying & laughing...I take a photo and we all have a good laugh. It is 0320!!!
91470- Pedro makes it to Camping. The French continue to look after us. They helped us set up our tents, made a fire, and even cooked us a snack, Wow! talk about adorable! Love, Love, the French! We went to bed (I mean inflatable mat) a bit over 0400!
Zzzz's: Camping lakeside with the French
----------------------- The PERFECT first day---Ha!------------------


















































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