Top Gear Challenge

We ended last week on somewhat of a cliffhanger….. If you have not yet read Friday’s dog blog I suggest that you take a quick read before continuing with this one….

To quickly recap, on Friday afternoon unexpectedly the alternator on my truck had died.

I was extremely fortunate to be able to get a new one on Friday afternoon and my mechanic was due to come over yesterday to fix it.

All was looking smooth and easy with the van parked up outside where I live.

But the adventure gods had another card to play.

Late on Friday night my mechanic rung me up and said that it would be much easier to get the truck up on the hydraulic lift so that he could fix it from underneath.

The adventure part is that I still had a broken alternator and my mechanic lives near Hønefoss.

There was a good bit of googling and reading of pickup truck forums to see if this might work.

The plan we came up with was nothing short of a Top Gear challenge.

Sunday morning I would find the balancing point between Dawn and there not being too much traffic before I set off. We just simply did not know how far the pickup would make it.

Were I to stop suddenly on the side of the road I would call my mechanic who would come with two spare batteries. We would swap these out and it would most likely give me enough power to get to his garage.

I will freely admit that driving a van until it stops filled me with a little uncertainty.

But it was our only option and we could see that this tactic had been used many times before, according to people writing on the internet.

I donned my snowmobile suit as I was not allowed to have any heat or the air blower on.

As much as I could I would take the smaller, less traveled roads so as not to be a potential congestion were the van to stop.

The van was driving normally and doing great…. For now.

I came up with the ingenious plan of checking my engine warmer remote control which gives me the voltage on the battery. It would give me an indication of how long I had left.

It was counting down…. But it was counting down extremely slowly.

I crested over Sollihøgda and immediately took the lake road.

In the end the battery and van performed outstandingly. Those old Top Gear Challenges with Toyota Hilux weren’t lying, these trucks are true work horses.

Arriving at his garage I greeted my mechanic and we were both very relieved.

A couple of hours later and the van was fully functional with the new alternator in place.

A true Sunday adventure was had and Monday’s dog adventures were the reward for our daring hard work.

Lastly, a very happy birthday today to Kuling, who celebrated with an adventure with her mates ❤️🐾

Doggies: Ellie, Mino, Deano, Sonja and Henie