HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SOPHIE! WISH WE WERE THERE TO HELP YOU CELEBRATE!
NEWFOUNDLAND – CORNER BROOK 1.
Day 145 – Today was a long day. We left at 8 a.m. for the city of Corner Brook & our 9:45 appointment at Fairway Honda. We got there at 9:30, happy to be early, and hoping it wouldn’t be an all-day car appointment. That happened to us last year in NY. We checked in and were told that since this was a U.S. vehicle, before working on it, they would have to call to check on whether there were any outstanding recall notices on our car. We were shown to the customer waiting area where two other customers were also waiting.
Shortly thereafter, we were told that there were no recalls on our car. Good, we thought, now they can begin working on it. Both of the men who were waiting with us said they were there for recall work; both had 2011 Honda CRVs. In a bit, one of the men left; his car was done. At 10:30 a.m. the other man went to check on his vehicle. He was told they were just starting to work on it. This did not make him happy since his appointment had been for 8:30 a.m. Uh-oh, we said; this does not bode well for us. He proceeded to repeat the story that he’d arrived at 8:30 and at 10:30 they were just starting the work four more times while we were there.
At 11:30, we were told that they had just done a quick check of our vehicle, which they always do before beginning work. They’d found several problems which would cause possible delays in our scheduled car work: the Sway Bar Links needed to be replaced (and yes, this could have caused the problem we’d had with the tires going bald & the alignment going out of whack); two tires needed to be replaced (mind you, we replaced all 4 tires 13,000 miles ago – but yes, the Honda has been subjected to really bad roads & deep potholes on this trip); and they couldn’t do a proper alignment with all the stuff we had stored in the Honda (which would mess with the accuracy of the alignment). Sigh.
We discussed what to do & Rob had planned to get a couple of new tires when we got home anyway, but could they get the same tires here that we’d gotten in NY – the ones on the front of the vehicle? The sway bar links, yes that should be done, particularly if we want to find out what is causing the tire problems. But we would have to come back another time for the work; it’s a three hour drive round trip; when could they get the parts and could they get the tires we wanted?
They called around and could get the tires; the sway bar links could be ordered and arrive tomorrow; we would be able to empty the Honda of all the stuff we had stored in it; and we had already planned to be here until September 29. They could fit us in this coming Monday if we came in at 7:30 a.m. (first on the queue means you won’t have to wait so long!). We made the appointment and scheduled an oil & filter change for the same visit – Rob was going to have to do that as soon as we got home anyway. Our cost for the work went from under $100 to between $600 & $700. Canadian currency is a plus though.
We left Fairway Honda at 12:15 p.m. (the poor, unhappy man was still waiting for his car to be done) and went to two grocery stores and a health food store before we could get all the groceries on our list. Very hungry after the shopping, we went to Subway, got lunch, then headed back to the RV. It was about 4 p.m. when we got back & the girls were quite rambunctious when they saw us. Running around like crazy, they were quite glad we were back. The weather today was rainy at times to sunny at times, 40 degrees when we got up & the high today was 57 degrees. There was a gorgeous rainbow on the way home over the end of Deer Lake. But we were on the Trans-Canada Highway & there was no place to pull off and get a picture – darnit!