Hello!! What have we been up to, you may be asking? Excitement Central?? Well, I just wanted to get my foot through the door…TRUCK PROBLEMS!!! You need to look at the picture and guffaw and laugh!! We have put our truck on a ramp to push start it manually!! Yeah, just the two of us pushing 4 tons together. We must be getting older but fitter or something!!
Okay, to get out of the farm it has been tough this month of March! We started off with the truck not starting in the middle of Punta Gorda; that was all fine and good because there were loads of tough, strong men to push start the truck for us! It turned out to be a starter problem so we decided to get it fixed straight away. We drove back home and parked it on a downward slope and made an appointment to get the truck fixed. Next day…with copious amounts of praying…we got the truck started at 5am on the dot (still have the 10pm to 4.59am curfew here) and drove all the way to Belmopan which was about 3 hours drive. So far so good, we managed to get it to our Toyota dealership for fixing. That day was not so good. There were other trucks on priority and we were forgotten; it ended up being a last minute rush job that got everyone (including ourselves) in a tizz. The starter was ‘re-modelled’ and we paid a hefty bill for this and other problems. Munchkin was not happy but at the end of the day, the truck started and we just wanted to get home.
That wasn’t the end of the story…no, there is more…
Last week, we were called on a medical emergency while we were at home. Okay, so we did our usual and ran into the truck and…and…and…it wouldn’t start!!! Oh, the stress of it all. We couldn’t believe it was the starter again (didn’t we just pay a huge bill to get it fixed!!) so Gnome checked the battery and everything else. He turned the ignition key again…nothing!! Arrrrgh!!!!
Oh dear…we finally had to call the people who had the emergency to come get us. So, that was okay.
When we got home from the medical call-out, we had to deal with our own emergency! We decided to ‘sit on it’ and think about what to do. I wasn’t in a rush to go back to our previous mechanic (they were rubbish!) and besides, we couldn’t get out of the farm. It wasn’t parked on a slope so we would have to push start it somehow.
Meanwhile…we got phone calls from people in town requiring medical appointments. Oh, more stress!! I hate letting people down. Of all the weeks that it could happen…we seemed to be very popular that week. Oh, and there was a business meeting out of town…not sure if that was anything but we are usually not in such demand!
We finally got help to push start the truck off the driveway. When the engine was running, the first thing that Gnome did was to build a ramp for the truck. Yes, let me show you again what he did…
So, when we need to go for a drive, Gnome releases the hand-break and we use the momentum to push the truck out of the farm onto the main road. Gnome pushes from the left door and I am hanging onto the right door. At some point, Gnome has to turn the steering wheel to get onto the main road. We still push on both sides…this is hard work…my butt still hurts!! Then, when the truck starts moving down the main road, Gnome has to jump into the driver seat (more thrilling heroics) and I am still pushing at this stage. Once there is enough speed, Gnome starts the ignition and the engine splutters to life.
Okay, that is how we have been getting the truck started in this tiny piece of nowhere in Belize. Right now, we are only going out for emergencies!!
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