May 22nd
In the morning, I had a shower and coffee at Auli’s place. Päivi was leaving for Finland on an early flight, so we were up at the crack of dawn.
It was wonderful to receive such tremendous help from Auli and Päivi. Organizing these repairs would have been much more difficult without their local knowledge and language skills. A heartfelt thanks for all your assistance, you amazing ladies!
We drove two cars (Tellu and a rental Hyundai) to return the rental car first. The journey included several GPS checks and re-routing, but we made it, and the small car was returned to the rental agency. We continued in Tellu towards the Ford repair shop. During the trip, the noises from the axle grew louder. We were a bit nervous about whether we would make it there. The Ford mechanics took Tellu into their care, lifted her up, and checked all the wheels and drive shafts. Apparently, they found an issue because the car was scheduled for several hours of work tomorrow afternoon. We’ll see what all needs to be done. Our language skills are not sufficient to understand French. We asked the shop manager if we could drive Tellu to the campsite on the outskirts of town and come back tomorrow. He understood a few words of English, shook his head, and did not recommend driving the car anymore. Next, I asked if we could stay in their parking lot overnight. I received the same head shakes. They then showed us a nearby industrial area on the map where we might find a spot to spend the night. We drove there cautiously (about 1 km), parked the car, and settled in to pass the time. Eva walked a short distance to a store to get bread and milk.
For dinner, we had ravioli and bread. Otherwise, we’ve been like sitting ducks. It’s not safe to leave the van alone here, so we’re guarding both ourselves and Tellu until morning. I’ve been reading Helsingin Sanomat and Yle’s website with great interest, studying the hiking map, checking Google Maps, and occasionally browsing social media. I called Seppo in Vironlahti, where he and Pekka are on a fishing safari. The weather seemed quite pleasant there. It seems like the weather is good all over Finland! I won’t complain about the weather here either. It suits us just fine. We’re living in hope for tomorrow, that the car gets fixed and we can get moving again.