The adventure becomes more adventurous
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2010
1
15
35
Trip End
Sep 07, 2010
Hovet, Buskerud, Norway
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Maybe I can start the story with this: how many Norwegian accountants and American engineers does it take to change a tire? The answer is that it can't be be done on a German car that doesn't have a spare tire. Let me explain how we proved this to be true...
On Tuesday morning, we planned to leave Bergen and make several stops on or near the Sognefjord. We had a time limit to be out of the apartment at 10:00AM and we worked really hard to meet our check-out time. However, as we drove to drop off the key, Becky realized that she had left her cell phone charging in the apartment; so back to the apartment to get the cell phone. Time we dropped off the key and gassed up, it was past noon again - we just can't seem to get moving before ~1PM.
So we headed off for a day of site-seeing. The route Bjorn had chosen, had many high view points of valley's and stops in towns along the fjord. At dinner time, we ended up in a lovely little town called Flåm (pronounced Floom). The kids played and we ate a nice dinner and got to watch a large Spanish cruise ship leave port. On the way into Flåm, we went through an 11.2km tunnel - Norway has a lot of tunnels.
BTW: It's really tough to find what I call an acceptable coffee in Norway; first the coffee is very bitter, second you only get 12oz and third you may pay $7 for the cup.
Back to the main story... After Flåm, we followed the Flåmbana (train) up into the country side. Finally it was time to head for home; which was still 4hrs away. We stopped at one more amazing vantage point after several tunnels and switch backs. I took several photos before it got too dark and then we thought we better head out... that's when the trouble began.
We had been driving for about 1hr when we came around a corner and I realized that we had a low/flat tire, so I pulled over immediately to check out the damage: the right front tire was flat - it was roughly 11PM and we were approx. still 3 hours from Kongsberg...
It didn't seem funny at the time, but looking back, if I would have been hiding in the woods watching someone else, it certainly had a comedic element...
If you have been following along, you recall my glowing remarks about the German built VW Touran that we were using - we'll, I have to take back part of what I said. It seems the Germans - in striving for ultimate efficiency - had made a very serious error in judgment: they had decided that a spare tire was no longer needed on a modern vehicle. In place of a spare: a can of liquid patch and a small electric pump. The liquid patch did little in the way of solving the 6in long tear in the sidewall of the tire. Did I mention that outside of headlights, it was pitch black.... so you have a Norwegian reading/translating the instruction manual to an American who is attempting to fix a German car. All we needed was a German engineer to be helping us and explaining the merits and virtues of no spare tire, and we would have had our own international dysfunctional version of the 3 stooges.
So here we are in the middle of no where in the pitch dark of night with no immediate solution on hand. Christine, Becky and kids were holding up amazingly well during the whole ordeal. I had unpacked and loaded and unpacked again the contents of the cars as we looked for spares/jacks and tools...
Thank goodness that at some point Norway decided that most roads and tunnels should have cell phone coverage; so Bjorn was able to get a tow truck from Geilo ( a town about 30miles away) - but it would be an a hour before he could get to us... so we waited.
While we waited, I thought I had a brilliant idea - could the spare off of Bjorn's van fit the Touran? The bolt pattern was the same, the diameter of the tire was different, but I couldn't tell exactly how different. It was worth a try - so we unloaded all the contents of Bjorn's van onto the road to get his spare out. I tried to get this spare on, but it was just too big... in the middle of all that, a guy stopped to help out: his name was Sven - turn's out he has a sheep farm a few miles up the road. He says he has a cabin that we can stay in for the night if we want to... By this time, it's after midnight and we don't have a lot of choices...
The tow truck arrives and takes the Touran off to town where a new tire will be ordered the next day. Sven says it will be tight in the cabin for 12 people, but we might be able to manage. However, given that Becky and Bjorn's kids have their first day of school on Wednesday, Bjorn decides that they will drive on home while we stay in the cabin and wait for the Touran to be repaired. Hannah and Annika decide to go on home with Becky and Bjorn - they arrived in Kongsberg at ~5AM on Wednesday morning.
Sven takes us to his cabin, which is quite lovely, and we get in bed at roughly 1:30AM. He says that he can take me to town the next day when he takes his sheep-dog to the vet - he tells me to be ready around 10:30AM...
Now, I'm looking at the ceiling in a Cabin in the middle of no-where that belongs to a guy that I don't know... All the bad news I've ever heard or seen is running through my mind. I can see the headlines in the Norweigan papers... "First Known Norwegian Cannibal Tricks Foreign Family into Cabin Trap" - or other versions that have a similar ending... Fortunately, I was tired enough and fell asleep expecting to be awakened to my doom at any time... - but morning came peacefully and Sven brought us some coffee and milk for breakfast and then drove me into town where I picked up the repaired car; I returned to the cabin and loaded up Christine and kids and then drove uneventfully back to Kongsberg... I'll need a couple of days to rest up from this excitement.
In looking back, I feel bad that I was so mistrusting of a person that just wanted to help. But what can I say? I come from America where on the news each day we are fed a steady diet of all the barbaric deeds man can do. Sven's act of kindness does make me examine myself - would I have stopped... would I have extended a hand of kindness to a complete stranger in the middle of the night? Unfortunately I know the answer - it would have been no; but this act of kindness does make we want to serve others better. The verse from Hebrews 13:2 keeps running through my mind: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angles unawares" ....
Comments
Burt & Christine -
Sadly, I too, would have been doubtful of someone so willing to help out of no where. As I finished reading your entry, I thought of the the story of the Good Samaritan. Esp. Luke 10:36-37 . . .
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
It is ours to pay it forward and help others.
It's been fun reading about your trip and going on an armchair visit to Norway my ancestor's homeland.
God's Peace,
Kristi
The Lord who cares for the sparrows.....cares for American tourists in Norway with flat tires.(comment from Jim)
Have been enjoying your blogging!!
Love, Barb ( and Jim too)
If you ever want to give up engineering maybe you should write travel blogs. I can imagine the situation wasn't very funny at the time but.... I have to admit that I laughed now. I could just see the picture of you and Bjorn out there in the middle of the night. I'm very glad everything ended well and you met some good people.
Great story and more then likely one you will not forget. I remember one time several years ago my car would not start after leaving costco(Portlnd Airport) and I asked several people for a jump start and several of course said no but one guy and his wife said sure and that they would follow me back to the Damores and I to was kind of leiry as well what could happen but there to it was a great act of kindness.
Hopefully you were will be able to keep in contact with him. It will be interesting to here more.
Its not what you planned but in hindsight, SO worth it. Its experiences like this that make life worth living and show that the human spirit is alive and well. I'm glad a good samaritan came upon you all. Hope you find a good cup of coffee soon - I find it hard to believe that for $7 all you get is a bitter 12 oz. I thought the coffee pot was always on in Scandihoovia :)
Hello there! The Cannibal from Norway writing to you and your family and wishing you all a merry christmas and a very good and happy new year! :-) My brother in law happened to come across your blog as he tried to find some pictures from Hovet to show some german friends of him (I don`t think they work on the Wolkswagen factory...) He told me about it and I really enjoyed reading about your trip to our side of the globe :-) You have a really "good pen"! I did not know that I could seem like a cannibal, but now that I have checked the mirror a few times, I realise that maby I do :-) :-) :-) Glad you and your family made it safe back to the U.S. And just for the record: I`m quite certain that some 70 years ago we got som help from you guys, so helping you a bit was the least I could do :-) Welcome back any time!