Sunday, January 30, 2005

Eventful Trip

Unfortunately, I have something to write about. Our trip to Pattaya wasn't without catastrophe. About 400 kilometers from Chiang Mai, I thought I hit an animal. Immediately, however, there was LOTS of clear water hitting the windshield. I then thought that someone threw a water bottle at the truck. However, nano-seconds later, steam billowed from the hood. I looked down to see my temperature gauge doing a mad-dash for the red zone. I instantaneously pulled to the side and killed the engine. As I opened the hood, I saw the problem. My radiator had actually exploded! It blew the entire top off the radiator and completely destroyed the fan and fan assembly. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking a picture of it until much later.

The good news is even though we were 400 kilometers from home and 250 k from Bangkok, we were only 6 kilometers from a bona fide Toyota dealership with an incredible service area! With in an hour, the truck was at the repair shop and we were back on the road in another hour after making necessary arrangements and even eating lunch at KFC and DQ!

We had been making such good time that we still made it into the hotel here in Pattaya at about 6 pm. We went out to eat at Henry J. Bean's, and had wonderful ribs. Tonight, I think we are going to the Hard Rock Cafe, Pattaya, to compare their ribs with HJ Beans.

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