Had a wonderful day with the Johns'. Went to "Kensington" district with Frank to meet up with Amber Rutledge, who I'd met (mostly on-line)
when I'd done a project for Chris Tamdjidi and Shambhala Europe. They were going to check out a place as a potential meeting place for a nascent Calgary Shambhala group. It was not so good. Besides costing $100/hour, it was a Tai Quan Do place by day and smelled heavily of sweat sock and old jock straps. Yick. Not very conducive to meditation. But, Frank was very diplomatic and asked good questions to maintain positive relations with a potential connection to the renting world.I took my obligatory pic out in front of their house. Lorraine cooked a very tasty mixed sausage spaghetti dinner with green salad. We just hung out and chatted. We made plans to visit Bannf National Park and check out Chateau Lake Louise where Frank and I did seminary back in 1980. Then I was to drive on and the three Johns' were going to hike up to a teahouse.
Never did get to see David Mann and Susan, though we did find his phone number and left a message. Ah well.
September 16
Then the no-doubt inevitable happened. My car broke down. The light for the battery came on and the steering got impossible -- very stiff. The good news was I was following the Johns' for a little pilgrimmage to Chateau Lake Louise and had just gotten in line at the Bannf National Park gate. Didn't have to pay. I could still drive the car forward and backward, but turning was a pit. So I immediately began calling CAA. My second use. Had to wait on hold for quite a while, maybe 20 minutes. We figured out that it must be the alternator, or perhaps the alternator belt. Good thing I have CAA Plus, because it allows for free towing for 160 km.I had lost Lorraine and Frank, because I'd paused at a turnout to take a pic of a cement factory (at tleast that's what Martin the tow driver thought it was). I mean look at it, how could I resist that? They'd done such a nice job stripping the rock behind it. I figured I'd catch up with Frank et al at the gate to the park. They must have seen me pull out.
Then, of course the car trauma happened. After I'd gotten the car around the back of a park building (not easily I'm telling you), I called Frank. I had gone across the street to a kind of parking area to see if they were there, but no luck. As I was calling I spied a gold car way up on the right shoulder of the road, almost out of sight. There they were. I felt very grateful they hadn't given up on me. Frank walked down and gave me the key to
their house. That goodness for cell phones too. The tow truck came. No more old fashioned dragging the car along behind, but he put it right up on a flat bed. Unfortunately (or not as the case may be), he said he wasn't a mechanic and wasn't going to look at see if it was just the belt. I'd gotten a mechanic's name from Frank in Calgary, so that's where we went. The tow truck driver, Martin, told me he was a dual citizen.His other country was Albania. Nice fellow. He had a neat kind of box like an On-Star tracker that spoke to him in a nice feminine voice telling him where to turn and when to get to the address I gave him. I importuned him to give me a ride to the Johns' as I didn't know where the heck I was or how long a taxi might take. The mechanics was closed of course, being as it's Sunday. So I must ask the Johns' if they'd put up with me for another day (possibly two if it's anything complicated on the car.
I came back and did the dishes to help out.
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