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We started this trip very optimistic, full of positive messages from friends and acquaintances. “It will go well”, and it will!
But this beginning couldn't be more challenging. If you follow us on social media, you know that our mammoth broke down after 400km.
We drove to Toronto, went to little Portugal, and decided to head back to a town called Aurora where we were told we could see a beautiful sunset.
The next day, the van did not start. We connected battery cables, and nothing, it wouldn't pick up for anything. We called the tow truck that brought us to Canadian Tire, and they tried to sort it out there. On the first day, they changed a part, and nothing. It didn't. On the second day, another mechanic, Chad, tried a new part and nothing. We started to fear the worst, the mechanics told us there was no chance. If not, it was better to send the van to the scrap yard. No! The van is perfect for us: bed, kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, bathroom, 4 places for guests. We refuse. The mechanic said it should be the “pcm”, our correspondent to the ECU. He sent it to be fixed because it's not easy to buy a new one around here. They said it was impossible to fix. And with that, a week had passed since we got here.
We looked it up on eBay, we found it in the United States. We ordered two. In between, another weekend and this time a long one, with holidays and all.
We stayed here living in the parking lot. We don't want to get out of the van because here we have everything, Duna has already adopted it as a home.
We try to go to Toronto one day, but Dune gets really nervous on buses full of people. We gave an interview to the local newspaper and so we made new friends.
Aurora is a small town with a good quality of life. Very kind people like most Canadians.
The place where we are and where Canadian Tire is has a gym, supermarket, pet store, cinemas. We ended up being well served and despite everything, we were lucky where our van broke down.
In this waiting, the highlight of our days is to buy lunch and dinner. We made Canadian Tire our living room. It is allowed to take animals, which helps us to take the Duna out of the heat on days when it is felt. There we have coffee, water, and TV. Employees already smile when they see us. They say they will miss us.
Here, we are still waiting for the ECU, and we hope it solves the problem for us.
All photos with Fujifilm X-T2
But this beginning couldn't be more challenging. If you follow us on social media, you know that our mammoth broke down after 400km.
We drove to Toronto, went to little Portugal, and decided to head back to a town called Aurora where we were told we could see a beautiful sunset.
The next day, the van did not start. We connected battery cables, and nothing, it wouldn't pick up for anything. We called the tow truck that brought us to Canadian Tire, and they tried to sort it out there. On the first day, they changed a part, and nothing. It didn't. On the second day, another mechanic, Chad, tried a new part and nothing. We started to fear the worst, the mechanics told us there was no chance. If not, it was better to send the van to the scrap yard. No! The van is perfect for us: bed, kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, bathroom, 4 places for guests. We refuse. The mechanic said it should be the “pcm”, our correspondent to the ECU. He sent it to be fixed because it's not easy to buy a new one around here. They said it was impossible to fix. And with that, a week had passed since we got here.
We looked it up on eBay, we found it in the United States. We ordered two. In between, another weekend and this time a long one, with holidays and all.
We stayed here living in the parking lot. We don't want to get out of the van because here we have everything, Duna has already adopted it as a home.
We try to go to Toronto one day, but Dune gets really nervous on buses full of people. We gave an interview to the local newspaper and so we made new friends.
Aurora is a small town with a good quality of life. Very kind people like most Canadians.
The place where we are and where Canadian Tire is has a gym, supermarket, pet store, cinemas. We ended up being well served and despite everything, we were lucky where our van broke down.
In this waiting, the highlight of our days is to buy lunch and dinner. We made Canadian Tire our living room. It is allowed to take animals, which helps us to take the Duna out of the heat on days when it is felt. There we have coffee, water, and TV. Employees already smile when they see us. They say they will miss us.
Here, we are still waiting for the ECU, and we hope it solves the problem for us.
All photos with Fujifilm X-T2
