packing
I got up at 05:00 to start packing, and by the time Keldor woke at around 07:00 I had managed to get the food and ice chests repacked into “want in reach while driving”, and “don’t need to see till we are home”, likewise my sewing projects and clothing.
I had found and washed our scattered feast gear, though hadn’t packed that chest yet, as we had talked about cooking all of the eggs, it seems that many in camp had bought eggs, so there were more than a couple dozen left. However, no one in camp bothered building a fire, but each in turn got up and started packing. So I asked, and it was agreed I should put all the eggs in our big ice chest.
Keldor quickly packed his personal stuff and then went out to stsrt working on stuff in the common areas, as I started working on bedding. Bjarni was in camp wondering if there was a way to help as I got to the part about taking apart the rope bed, so I happily got their help/company with that step, passing the rope shuttle back and forth, unweaving the bed.
Then I could drop my tent, and all of the other tents in our camp were also down or ready to drop, and the gate was open to let people drive in.
Keldor focused on getting stuff on the roof rack that has to go there, I focused on getting things packed to fit in my car in more or less the same configuration as on the tip down. Meanwhile everyone else loaded the trailer and other cars, with pauses to say good-bye to others who were ready to go sooner than we were.
The site gates were only open for cars in the morning, up to 13:00, and the last Camp Northern Lights car (ours), rolled out the gate just before 13:00. Keldor parked in the parking lot and came back for a quick round of goodbyes etc.
driving
Keldor’s sister Ragna rode with us this time, as Charlotte is still in the hospital, and we were heading to her house to sleep tonight anyway.
We left site at 13:15. A short while later I remembered the second hand store we randomly stoped at on the way home last year, where he bought a cannon, so I asked google maps for second hand stores near our route. The second one we tried wss the same store, but they had no cannons this time. I did get a pair of black jeans and a few blue glassplates.that might make good lids for my blue glass bowls.
car troubles
Some time after 16:00 a warning light on the car came on saying that the battery wasn’t charging (the same warning we had a year ago when a belt broke and we stayed extra days in Uppsala to get it fixed). We were about a half an hour from Värnamo, where there is a Biltema, so we hoped we would make it that far before stopping to look, and we did.
This time we saw no obvious problem, so we bought a backup battery, and a tool to read the current level of charge on the battery (about 12 volts), and we continued toward Vadstena.
Sometime later Felicitas posted in the group camp chat about being home, and so tired that emotions were numb, which meant that post-event blues hadn’t hit yet, to which I replied:
Our post event blues have been put asside for the game “will the car make it to Vadstena on battery power alone?“
reaching Vadstena
We did make it to her house, but instead of sewing we spent the driving time looking at options. It being a Saturday evening, there is no way we will get a workshop to look at the car today or tomorrow, but we need to be home on time to pick up the cat sitter from the airport on Tuesday before taking our Wednesday morning flight to Ireland. (Since Keldor’s armour traveled home in Þórólfr’s trailer, we can’t just have someone else pick up the cat sitter and change our booking to start the trip in Stockholm. )
Most options considered are to leave the car in Vadstena, let a shop fix it, and head home with just the stuff we need for the Ireland adventure. Then we could change the return flight to stop in Stockholm and pick up the car then.
alternatives considered
A one way rental car would cost at least 7000 kr, and the earliest available is Monday. A train costs at least 3000 kr, and the earliest available is Sunday evening. There are a few used cars listed for around 10,000 kr, which would also solve the problem of Keldor’s current car is still broken. So this is the most appealing option for me.
We did send a a couple messages as we drove, to cars with a note with a varient of “cheaper for quick sale”. One replied right away saying they aren’t home this weekend, how about next? We replied we were only passing through, and aren’t here then.
an early night
We arrived at 20:50, I did my yoga as the others ate a late dinner, then took a shower and went to bed, though I stayed up updating my logs till 22:15.
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