Summary: car overheats on the way to Maine. Tow a car, rent a car, and resume the journey with a 5H delay. Drop the bike and hike only 4 mi today – I am falling behind the schedule.
04:13 wake up in Boston. It is completely dark outside.
04:46 depart for Maine
05:17 I notice that skies begin to gray out in ahead
06:08 with sunrise I arrived at rest area in Kittery, ME 71 mi from home. +14°C. It is 143 mi till destination.
06:30 car displayed a message that Engine is overheated. I slowed down, and temperature quickly returned to normal.
07:15 As soon as I tried to go faster than 80 mph, engine overheats again, and temperature would not go down this time. My Auburn, ME exit off 95 is just a mile ahead. I pull up to a first garage. They recommend me going to Rennen – another mile ahead on route 202. I drive further at a slow speed, but engine temperature is at 250°F (121°) At Rennen Performance they only do Audis. The owner is a very busy man, but he spends a lot of time with me to find me a tow truck and possibly rent an affordable car. At BMW of Westbrook – 31 mi back they would take me as an emergency and arrange Enterprise Rent a Car for me at $44 per day.
09:02 – We are expecting towing will be $150 ($70 pus $3 per mile) and my car repair estimate will be about $1500. There is a 4 car pileup at Auburn, so the tow truck will be here around 10:30. I made a reservation at Hertz and then immediately canceled it – how would I do logistic of transferring from rental back to my car?
At Rennen I am watching how they do all the auto-repair tasks – oil change, clean car inners with high power water jets, change gaskets, and disassemble the car comply to extract and replace the engine.
10:19 car is loaded on a tow truck by the hook. The bumper plastic cover plate will fly out on the highway.
11:00 I am at the BMW dealership. Car is already unloaded from the flat bed, and driver does his paperwork. Towing turned out to be $168.65.
11:17 I am sitting and waiting, and the situation is much better now. I think I took the situation under control. Sooner or later, I will reload the stuff from my car into rental and be on my way. Now I am expecting the delay due to car troubles will be about 5H.
11:24 I grabbed my car keys to be able to transfer the stuff. Tracy – my service advisor explained that they booked solid for 2 weeks, but they will take my car as an emergency. I am thinking through the reloading – do not forget the E-ZPass!
12:15 Rental car is here – it is Chrysler 3000 with 3700 miles on it. Start to re-load stuff to a new car, attach velo rack, hang the bike. ODO shows 145.6 miles or 69004 miles total.
12:20 all is loaded. Two hour or 100 miles is ahead of me to the destination.
14:31 I am at Height of Land on route 17 – some 100 miles later.
14:53 deposit the bike in the woods
14:59 start driving to the begging of the hike – to route 27 –
16:00 After 41.3 mile of bleak driving, I arrived at AT parking at Carrabassett Valley. Now I have 3H till darkness.
16:24 finally – start the hike. The deeper I go, the higher elevation and the night promises to be cold. North Crocker Mountain is 5 mi away.
Next 2H and 20 minutes – sharp up at the beginning (till 17:15) and then more gradual but relentless climb up to about 3000′. At 17:19 I’ve completed 1.7mi. At 18:19 – 3.7 mi!
18:38 I’ve completed first 4 mi on the trail. Before the dark I found a descent camping spot, a pleasant distance from the trail, flat and secluded. And water trickle is nearby, although I do not need water tonight. Text to Lira with my location. Not a word about car troubles so that she wouldn’t worry.
19:59 I am comfortably set in my hammock.
20:04 it is completely dark outside. I put on lots of layers and seemingly warmed up. It is cold outside. Temperature is falling quickly.
20:18 the last entry in the log. My new rented Chrysler 3000 and I am at 3000′.
Navigate through the List
- 01 September 2022 AT trip - preparations (2023/07/31)
- 02 - September 01 - be happy when everything works (2023/08/01)
- 03 Sept 02 - catch up to the schedule over non-existent roads (2023/08/02)
- 04 Sept 03 - above and beyond one's abilities over three 4000' peaks (2023/08/03)
- 05 Sept 04 - dander of rain pushes into sudden actions at the end of the hike (2023/08/04)
- 06 Sept 05 Mon - think freedom vs. being busy and write about it (2023/08/05)
- 07 Sept 06 TUE - Glorious rain, glorious day with a proper umbrella (2023/08/06)
- 08 Sept 2022 lessons and amplifications (2023/08/07)
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