Part II: The Flat

So as I stated in my first entry, this will be an account of the past two days.

I’ll start by catching you up with our plans. Monday morning, Scott was set to arrive back from his trip to Copenhagen. So, Nigel, Michelle, and I were going to drive down Windhoek on Sunday, stay overnight at the Roof of Africa, pick Scott up from the airport and head straight to South Africa to visit Siyacula for a week or so. I should also mention in passing that Sunday was Michelle’s birthday . . . Yay! Sunday was going swimmingly. Saturday evening we had gone out for dinner with Garth to celebrate Michelle’s birthday. Then we played some Dutch Blitz, and Garth and Michelle stayed the night just to make it easier the next day. So, we’re all packed up and leaving, making sure we have everything we need - clothes, toiletries, passports. Passports! Michelle forgot hers at Garth’s in Walvis Bay! Well, driving to Walvis Bay and back would add another hour to the journey, and it was already starting to get a little late. No bother though, there is another road to Windhoek that goes straight from Walvis Bay. It’s a gravel road and goes through the mountains, but it’s shorter, and we have and SUV so it was fine. Plus Garth got a ride home instead of having to take a taxi! Everything was fine.

So we get the passport and we’re on our way. And what a beautiful drive it is. There’s hardly any traffic and some of the views are just spectacular. Plus, there are TONS of animals! Mountain zebra (slightly different from the common zebras running around Etosha, and very cool because Namibia is the only place in the world they are found), oryx, kudu, ostrich, and very panicky bunnies which couldn’t seem to figure out that the car would stop chasing them is they simply go off the road! The sun is still setting pretty early here so much of the tricky mountain passes were in the dark. But it was ok. Everything was fine.

Then, disaster. About 140km out of Windhoek we got a flat. Did I mention that this road was really nice because there were no other cars? Oh yeah, I did. And did I mention that it was Michelle’s birthday? Perfect. Well, not to worry though because Nigel knows his way around a jack, and we had a spare tire. So Nigel got to work taking the old tire off, and I was even able to make myself useful by getting the spare tire off the back and ready to put on. Everything was fine. That is, until we noticed that there was one lug nut that needed a special key in order to remove it. We searched the car up and down to no avail. But, luckily Nigel had the presence of mind to remember that he and Scott had stayed at a ranch fairly nearby a couple weeks ago when Nigel first arrived. So Michelle called Garth back in Walvis and had him find the number. We called, and although they said they were too far away to come out, they gave us the number of a German couple who were fairly close to us who could come and help. So we gave them a call and they were on their way. Everything was fine.

45 minutes passed and there was no sign of them. We called back and it turned out the gentleman had already gone out and seen nothing and gone back. So we assured them that we were actually there and we really needed help quite desperately because it was around 9pm and it was getting very cold out. So he came back out and found us this time. Everything was fine.

Unfortunately, what he brought with him were the exact tools that we had told them that we already had and which wouldn’t work. So he came, did nothing, asked for a ridiculous amount of money to cover his gas, and left. Did I mention it was Michelle’s birthday?

Luckily, as a back-up plan, Michelle had been in contact with a garage in Windhoek who would be able to come and rescue us. Unfortunately it would be very expensive and it would take two hours to get there. On top of that, they wouldn’t be able to fix the problem there; they would just load the truck onto a bigger flatbed truck and get it fixed in the morning. That was our last resort though so we went for it. In retrospect we should have just called them in the first place. But in retrospect, we should have just taken the main road, and Michelle shouldn’t have forgotten her passport, and so on and so on. Since it was her birthday and all though, I’ll forgive her :P

So for two hours we waited in the freezing cold. Did I mention that the heater in Scott’s truck doesn’t work? No, I forgot that part. We tried to sleep a little but it was seriously sooooo cold. But eventually, a kindly gentleman by the name of Philip rescued us, and at midnight we were on our way. We got to the Roof of Africa at around 2:30am and had to be up early to pick up Scott from the airport. And there was the other problem – how were we going to pick Scott up without a car? Luckily the manager at the garage was a really great guy name Jan, and he offered to give us a ride to the airport in the morning (and only charged N$100 for the gas, which probably didn’t come close to actually covering it).

Oh, did I say give “us” a ride to the airport? Well I meant give Nigel and Michelle a ride. I figured it would be pretty cramped in there with five people, so I opted to stay in bed. It’s OK though, they’re all napping right now.

So Scott got in all right and Jan took them back to the garage to get the truck with the newly installed spare tire. Unfortunately though, a new tire would have to be bought, and just to add insult to injury the rims on both the wheel that got the flat and on the spare were dented and needed to be repaired. After the three of them returned to the hotel and grabbed some breakfast, Scott and I headed out to the tire place to get all the tire and rim business sorted out. At first they were telling us that it would take about a week to fix the rims, but after they heard that we were supposed to be leaving for South Africa today, they said they’d be able to get it ready for tomorrow morning. So I won’t mention how much the towing, new tire, rim repair, extra night at hotel, etc. all costs, but I will tell you that it’s a lot.

Hopefully though we’ve used up all are bad luck over the past 24 hours and the rest of the trip will go smoothly. At least we’ll get to go to Joe’s Beerhouse for dinner tonight though!