2015 reopening february 7…well, maybe…
Losing our Cool
As many of you know, the wine shop is closed each January and we take a little vacation. This year, like last year, the plan was to load the dogs in the car and take the trailer to Napa/Bodega Bay for a few weeks.
Besides enjoying a little getaway, a little winter sun, and perhaps a bit of wine tasting here and there (!), since we got our little trailer a couple of year ago, we have also gotten a kick out of the many positive comments and “thumbs up’s” from people who pass us on the highway. Always made us smile. We figured it was the combination of the cute trailer (called a “Tada”) and our color-coordinated old Eurovan.
Engine Fires <–> Fire Engines
Those days, we are sad to say, are Gone the way of the Dodo…sigh…alas, poor Dodo!
On Day Two of our trip, nearing Portland on I-5, we smelled something hot and plastic (The previous evening we had noticed the same smell, thought it was a stuck brake caliper, but checked out okay). Within minutes we exited the freeway and pulled in at a gas station just as great volumes of very smelly smoke started pouring from under the hood. The young attendant seemed a bit overwhelmed but soon called the Fire Dept while I emptied his fire extinguisher onto the flames emanating from under the cooling fan. Competent and friendly firefighters showed up soon and neutralized the fire. Thus began an unplanned adventure.
It would take almost two weeks for insurance to Total the car, releasing us to move on to shopping for a new tow vehicle. Suffice it to say there were lots of details that had to be worked out, and my ordinarily extraordinary insurance company took over a week and a half of constant prodding to select a course of action. Corporate service attenuation is especially a blow when a company you have respected for many decades rejects its service philosophy and succumbs to Business School protocols. That’s not to say they are not still better than most; but this direction is entirely consistent with the Robotic Corporate Personhood which is determining the world’s future.
New image
Suffice it to say that the car that emerged from our search in the Portland area for a new tow vehicle was a complicated compromise. Now the dust has settled, and we have been on the road for a week with the “new” car, (Volvo SUV, see photo) which, unfortunately, is not in the appropriate color spectrum for the trailer (shown here sporting its perky ball cap/duckbill visor). So, although the car works pretty well for towing, the colors are All Wrong, and we have no idea what (if anything) should be done about that.
Reopening
Maybe next Friday or Saturday…stay tuned!
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2072 Granger Way