We woke up early to clear, blue skies and breaking waves. We lounged in bed for a while just taking it all in and enjoying the warm sanctuary of the bed. Jax the Dog now sleeps in the bed on Dave's side, due to it being too cold on the floor. He let out contented sighs and snuggled deeper in to the blankets every time we tried to move him.
We eventually all got up to make breakfast. Jax hopped outside and got busy terrorizing the local field mouse population, digging and pouncing with wild abandon. We ate some juevos rancheros, packed up, and headed out.
After a short while, Dave started noticing the brakes were fading pretty badly. When pulling over to let them cool down didn't do the trick, he made the call to stop at a mechanic in the next town, Santa Cruz. He got right to work, and after a while we had some pretty bad news to handle. The driver's side front caliper was completely seized, the rear drums were leaking, the master cylinder was toast, and the rear rotors were beyond repair. We had essentially been stopping our heavy van slash tank with 1/5 of the braking power. I thought back to the winding, steep hills we had been jaunting up and down and felt a little nauseous.
Because it was Friday the parts we needed wouldn't be in until Monday. Luckily, on my parents' urging, I had signed up for AAA before leaving for our trip. I got the premier RV coverage, which includes trip interruption for up to $1,500. We booked a room for 3 nights at the Days Inn. Although the cost of the repairs to the van isn't covered by our insurance our lodging and meals are on AAA, so for now we're living large. Hot showers and forced air heating really help soothe the wound. Our room even has two Queen size beds, so Jax the Dog gets his very own bed!
Today we are going to explore Santa Cruz and see what we can! As the saying goes, "Adventure starts when something goes wrong."
Damn bike thieves!! Hang em!! Hang em High!!
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