A week ago today, we wound our way back to Gauteng for the second time since our move down here and once more that dreaded journey was re-lived in my mind...although not nearly as badly as last month, it is indeed a life event I will clearly not forget in a hurry. I feel now I can put it all down in writing without cringing as much as I did the night and early morning of 20/21 August.
I have come to the conclusion in recent months that if anything untoward is going to happen to anyone, it will happen to us....and I have come to terms with that. So knowing this, and upon reflection, it has been no surprize to me that our move went the way it did.
In my mind I had hoped that we would be on our way at the latest by mid day...10 am would have been better but 2 hours leeway was a time I could work with. Sara, my sister had said she would have supper ready for us and she would meet us as we arrived. That was the plan and I had hoped it would work out like that... I now know that for anyone else this would have been eutopia and would more than likely have slipped into place, but for us it was just not to be.
It started the night before with Johan and Matthew driving up from KwaZulu/Natal to help with the move. Matthew was in Bob, my brother in law's bakkie, and Johan in ours. Now I know I have been very lax in keeping you updated with Larkwood Life of late (and that is going to change) but our bakkie just the weekend before, had a refurbished engine fitted at huge expense. It had made just one run on the long road between Gauteng and KwaZulu/Natal and driving the journey back was it's second. The two men in my life should have arrived with us about 9.30 pm. I wanted to get to bed early as I knew the following day...moving day would be long, and at that stage I did not realize exactly how long it would turn out to be....anyway back to the night before... the boys hadn't arrived by 9.30.. nor 10...nor 11. I sent Johan a whatsapp message to find out where they were and he replied that they were 'limping' along. OH DEAR...not good news for us at all. NiQi and I decided to try and get some sleep and managed barely a few minutes before they arrived. Both were in Bob's bakkie!!!!! Ours was not trailing behind, it was not being towed, it had in fact already been dropped off with our mechanic....it did not survive the trip...Matthew had towed it the last 100 km.
Well after a few hours sleep, we were all up and expectantly waiting the removal van. (That too is another story which I will regale after this has been posted....for now this is only about our journey down.) The bakkie was being looked at and 'fixed' while the truck was being loaded. Finally we had it back with us late afternoon.
Well we said goodbye to Grootvlei and the new owners of our plot at about 7 pm. This after injecting 5 dogs with sedative and giving William Rescue tabs, and slipping oral sedative down the squealing, squirming throats of 8 cats. The cats were all in individual cat boxes in my car and the dogs had been placed one by one in the back of the double cab.
At this stage euphoria reigned as I was glad to finally to be on our way and in 7 hours we should be back to our roots....home again in Winterskloof. We stopped at the Doornpoort One Stop to have a bite to eat, after a very long day of packing and directing everything onto the truck. So it was that we finally left at about 8pm for the journey ahead.
Probably about an hour and a half into our trip and not too far before the Durban/Kimberley turn off, some fool, and I say that politely, pulled in front of Johan driving @ about 40 kmph in the middle lane of the highway. Johan, with his quick thinking, shot out from behind him, leaving me to deal with this slow vehicle ahead of me. Thank goodness I believe in keeping good following distances, for if I hadn't I would no doubt have smacked into the back of his vehicle as he slowly chugged along. The result was, I slammed on my brakes and in the process had 8 cat boxes falling in the back of the car. I was not as lucky as Johan to be able to pull out into another lane of traffic as there were vehicles moving on both sides of me. Finally I managed to move out from behind this 'person' and continued on my merry way, trying to catch up with Johan who I thought was probably quite some way ahead of me by now.
About 20 minutes later, I stopped looking for Johan's bakkie ahead of me and had a look at the road I was driving on. This is where I realized my first mistake of the night, for whilst I was watching in my rear view and side mirrors for a gap to get past, I missed the turnoff to Durban!!!! It did not take me long to realize that I was on the wrong road!!!!! I quickly pulled over to the left hand side of the road and stopped in the emergency lane. With hazard lights flashing I phoned Johan. (This is when I was eternally grateful for cell phones and even more so for my recently upgraded phone with GPS.) Johan had become worried, looking for me in his rear view mirror and not seeing me, so when I phoned he was thankful to hear I had just missed the turnoff and had not been in an accident. I discovered he had just passed the Natalspruit turnoff, and while he stopped to wait for me to once more join him, I entered Natalspruit into my phone GPS and after travelling another few km, managed to turn over the highway and onto the other side, going back the way I had come. Once I saw a sign to Durban and followed it, I felt happier knowing that at some point shortly I should meet up again with Johan and about half an hour later,when I saw his bakkie in the distance I was very relieved. Yah!!!!
We both carried on all happy and it was not long after that, I realized that with slamming on the brakes and the shift in the cat boxes,I had 2 'free' cats roaming the car...trying to sit on my lap and on the dash.
At about 10.30pm, Johan slowed down and pulled over on the shoulder of the road....I followed suit, not sure what he was doing. It was dark and I had 2 cats to contend with, so sat patiently waiting for him to come and tell me what was going on. It was not long before he came to my window and told me he had discovered the new engine had an oil leak. It was then that I realized that what I thought were fine spots of rain on my windscreen, were indeed spatters of oil.
The diagnosis - he wouldn't be able to drive anymore.
The solution - I would have to tow him.
I panicked, although I hoped he didn't see panic written all over my face. I had only ever towed something once before, many years ago, a trailer, and that had only been for about 30 km on an open road with little traffic. How was I ever going to tow the bakkie now? And this was not going to be for just 30km but almost 500km!!!!
I panicked, although I hoped he didn't see panic written all over my face. I had only ever towed something once before, many years ago, a trailer, and that had only been for about 30 km on an open road with little traffic. How was I ever going to tow the bakkie now? And this was not going to be for just 30km but almost 500km!!!!
The only towing rope we could muster at that stage was all the dogs leads tied together. (As I am writing this the same fear and panic I had then, I can feel in my being now.) I moved the astra in front of the bakkie and Johan tied the leads, hooking one end onto the back of the astra and the other end to the front of the bakkie. The dogs were still sedated in the back of the bakkie, the cats, not so much. I still had the two escapees who would settle for a bit and then make their way to me in the front, trying to sit on my lap, or curled around my neck, or even on the dashboard.
The rope broke a number of times...many, many times in fact.
I missed turning off at Harrismith and then Swinburne, to get another rope.
I kept freaking out about going down Van Reenens pass and going through the toll gates. Every time Johan had to re-tie the rope, he looked at me patiently, not saying a word in anger, although I was sure he was feeling quite exasperated. I took a few Rescue pills a couple of times trying to calm my nerves. At one stage we had a really good run for about 60 km before the rope snapped again. Each time it snapped, it became shorter and the bakkie got closer to my tail.....
We stopped at the top of Van Reenens Pass to fill the astra and the garage was closed...no fuel. We were freezing. I found my pyjamas and put them on under my clothes. I unearthed the big winter jacket that was lying in the astra and gave it to Johan. Normally he would never wear anything as big and bulky, but he was freezing and it kept him warm. We rested for a bit, went to the bathroom, Johan cleaned my windscreen with dishwashing liquid - one of the last things packed when we locked up, and after searching in the bakkie, we found a tow rope - HALLELUYA.
After getting going again and Johan telling me we were half way home, we ran better. Towing was easier with the added length and we managed a good distance again before the rope once more broke. This was where my nightmare really began as the rope snapped whilst in the middle lane trying to overtake trucks traveling uphill at 40 km an hour. I had to engage a lower gear to get added speed and the jerk from behind me, snapped the rope leaving Johan stranded in the middle lane. I had my hazards on and drove slowly so I could get a gap between trucks to pull over onto the shoulder of the road. At this point I didn't fully realize the danger Johan was actually in, and when I think of it now I give thanks with a sincere heart, for his safety and protection. Johan, with the momentum he had, managed to roll back over to the left hand shoulder. All the while trucks were flying passed us both. Once on the side, I reversed all the way back to Johan. Was I ever thankful to see him there waiting for me. Because of the angle he had stopped I had to pull him away putting huge strain on the clutch of the astra....I was close to tears, exhausted and drained. I did not ask Johan how he was doing and he didn't ask me. At this point we knew we had to stick together, we had to get strength to continue from each other. A truck nearly wiped Johan out, and broke his phone screen with the impact of him jumping out of the way.
Eventually we got going again. The rope continued to break. I became more and more tired. I now had 5 cats loose in the car and the dogs, although better behaved had woken from their drowsy state.
Nearing Howick I went over a piece of metal that suddenly appeared in the road and with that had an immediate flat with our brand new tyre. We managed to find the spare wheel under all the cat boxes and took it out without any of the cats getting out. Once that was changed, we pulled away again for our final stretch of the journey. By now dawn had broken and it was light. The trucks moved around us as I stuck to the left hand lane.
Finally we made the Cedara turnoff...broke the rope again at the T junction, had impatient drivers on their way to work hooting at us and overtaking us, not knowing what a long night it had been for us while they had been tucked up in their beds sleeping and resting ready for the new day.
The last couple of km were in the early morning traffic of Hilton village,,,,,parents dropping their children at school and then going on to work. As we arrived at the top of Valley Road, we saw our removal truck ahead of us. Our now 12 hour trip was almost over. We followed them down Valley Road and into Willow Lane. I am still emotional about that trip and I pray I never have to endure another quite like it. My prayer then, was that we arrive safely, and we did. My prayer for any journey from here on in will be for our safety, and that we not break down. It was the most draining experience of my life....
