So, Saturday morning, my friends and I are up in Kilgorie, looking for the blaze that marks the endpoint of the section of the Bruce Trail that we are about to do. (We normally park vehicles at the end, then drive the others back to the start point). I'm leading the charge.
We come to a road through a forest on the escarpment. It's marked "No Winter Maintenance." Fine - we're still in fall. It's not paved, just hard-packed sand and gravel. Steep ravine on the left hand side, with lots of beautiful homes and properties tucked in behind the trees as the road climbs upward. I'm going maybe 20 km/h.
Suddenly... BANG! Miss Jetta bottoms out on what feels like a pothole. It has happened before, so I keep going. Within 50 metres, the oil pressure light screeches on, and I smell something burning. Turn off the ignition and get out.
Behind me (other than my friends who are now running toward me) is a long trail of oil. FACK. I get back in the car, throw her in neutral (no ignition) and roll back down the hill in reverse. The trail of oil now follows me all the way down the hill, even as I pass the rock beside the pothole that was the culprit.
The guys try to look under the car, but the Jetta has impossibly low clearance. In any case, it's clear that I punctured the oil pan.
Since there was nothing that could be done right then and there, we decide to proceed with the hike. We notify the owners of the property that my car will be there all day, but will be removed before dinnertime.
Luckily, one of my friends has CAA Plus, which gets you a free tow to anywhere within a 200 km radius. My CAA membership is very basic (note to self: get CAA Plus if you're going to keep hiking in bumfack nowhere). We call them at the end of the hike, and a flatbed shows up about an hour and 15 minutes later. We are 105 kilometres away from my local mechanic. Miss Jetta gets loaded on and off they go.
Long story short – my mechanic says he could put his fist through the hole from that rock. $568 later (tonight), I will have my car back.
I did not see that rock – I swear. We went back and looked at it again, and it really wasn't that big. But, there was a rut right next to it, which I guess served to slam me right down on it.
Oh, and to add insult to injury... we were on the wrong road.
