When Captain Kirk explored our galaxy, he left our solar system with a very weak
safety net. He did have an engineer on board, but if the starship broke down, it
could be a long time before a rescue mission could be mounted.
The van
was back in our hands, so, I took it for a test run. By 11:30, I determined the
van was slightly misfiring, but we had no choice – we had to push on.
I decided to make a run for Florida to see how far we could make it. We would
get up in 4 hours and get an early start.
"Are you getting up?" Linda
asked. I looked at the clock and it was past 7am the next morning.
"What
happened? Why didn't the alarm go off?"
Linda explained "You set the
alarm to go off at 4pm, not 4am."
With a late start, we passed into South
Carolina and then passed through Georgia. I tried to ignore the vibration from
the engine by telling myself it was bumps in the road. But as we approached
Florida, Linda could feel the vibration as well. After crossing the Floridian
border, we pulled off for lunch. As we stopped at a red light, the plumb of
unspent fuel coming out our tailpipe caught up with us. The smell was foul so
Linda said "we had better not stop. Keep going!"
We pulled back on the
highway and the vibration was getting worse - especially as we went up hill. The
GPS displayed how many miles remained. I watched and counted them off by tens.
"120 miles" and then "110 miles" and then "100 miles". "We will be OK as long as
we keep going," I said. "We can't stop."
When an engine misfires, it
means there is gasoline vapor that doesn’t get burned. That vapor gets
pushed out the tail pipe. Our van clicked and sputtered down the highway with
its plumb of unspent fuel vapor trailing behind. If anyone lit a match, they
would blow up half of Jacksonville!
As we approached Daytona, the
traffic started slowing. A blimp in the sky told me why. "I think the Daytona
500 is this weekend." Sure enough, the traffic was slowing to a brisk walking
pace due to traffic for the race. This was just our luck!
When a friend
had heard about our van problems, he jokingly warned us to "watch out for
falling asteroids". He should have warned us about major motor racing events.
The van didn't like the slower pace and complained loudly. "We aren't going to
make it," Linda warned. We were stuck in the middle lane with bumper-to- bumper
traffic - if the van died, I wouldn't be able to make it to the side of the
road!
When we crept past Daytona, the highway opened up and we were able
to return to our normal speed. As the van picked up speed, so did the rhythm of
the knocking. On the bright side, we were within towing distance of Disney, so
we continued nervously counting off the miles. "60 miles" and then "50 miles"As
long as I didn't see a light on the dash, I was going to keep going. The Van's
misfiring was vibrating the car terribly when a car passed by us, honked its
horn and the driver made a motion about the front of our van exploding or
something. He knew what we knew: we were in deep crap! I feared our van would
break down just miles from Disney! Oh no.... I don't like where this is headed!
"Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh oh ad
Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh oh oad"
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