TL (4) - Blue Ridge Mnts - Washington 27-02-2010

Travel Log #4 - 27-02-2010
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Blue Ridge Parkway Mountains - Washington D.C.
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TL 4.1 06:13 EST
MM:900.0
I woke up in Paradise II, why do I call it Paradise II? Well Paradise I has been take by the beautiful camp spot in Kenya and that will forever be Paradise I, but this makes a great second spot in the Eden Top 10. 0`C (32`F) outside but very nice and warm inside the car. This is truly fantastic! I had 3 layers protecting me in the car, the car itself, blanket hung like a tent inside the car and the sleeping bag. I decide to stay in the valley to see the sun come up and see how beautiful this place really is before i move to Washington. Where am I? I took a side road on the Blue Ridge Parkway and went inside a deep valley on an unpaved road.

TL 4.2 27-02-2010 12:00 EST
Aaaaaaaaah!

CAR LOCKED!!

What is the best place along my route to get locked out of your own car? That's right, it is definitely not the bottom of a valley at -2 degrees, snowy and with the nearest house about 4 miles away, but I didn't even know about the house. So I had my own little survival adventure to do. Let's start at the beginning.

I had just brushed my teeth and done my morning freshening up in the nearby stream with delicious water. I had locked my car since I walked a bit away from it to the stream. While I was putting my towel and things back in the trunk of my car another car passed by and asked for directions to a camp-site. While I told him there was one at the far end of this road I put my car keys temporary on my bag in the trunk. When the person left I shut the trunk down and when I realized what I had done the car had already left. I locked myself out of my own car :(.

The hours of Discovery Channel finally kicked in and I began running my survival list.

Step 1) Check your supplies.

- Coat (Thank god I took it with me to the stream)
- Clothes (Well although it was like Eden I wasn't naked of course)
- Toothpaste and various healthcare thingies.
- Water bottle (Had one with me in case the water of the stream tasted horrible)

And everything I could get through the open window of my car (Which I had let open since the car stank a bit after a night of sleep)
So I can add to the list: Sweater, Extra pants and socks which I all managed to get with a stick through the small window from the back seats.

Step 2) Fix your situation.

I figured I could use a stick to unlock the doors of my car, I tried for about half an hour to push the little button on the door which opened all locks, but it was electric and wouldn't work without the keys in the ignition. I managed to pull the inside door handles of the back doors but they wouldn't work while the car was locked. I also tried to pull the front door lever but it didn't seem to go open enough and I couldn't find or make any suitable stick to open it from the weird angle from the back windows.

Step 3) Check your surroundings.

SO I was in a valley, on a road with 2 directions, down the valley where I knew was one probably abandoned camp-site (since the car told me it would go to the other site further away) and the route up to the main Blue Ridge Parkway (with probably cars) and a lodge further up north, but I had no idea how far that was, only that it was at the most about 20 miles.

Step 4) Make your decision

I decided it was better to walk to a certain human location then towards the unknown. It wasn't useful to stay near the car since I only met one car in the past 13 hours. Better to make a 20 mile walk and find someone. So I put on the extra pants and the sweater, used the socks to make gloves and got ready for a long walk.

Step 5) Communication.

I knew park rangers might patrol the roads so I made a little text on the hood of my car with branches. It spelled:

CAR BROKEN

WENT LODGE

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So I was walking through paradise through the snow and along the many hairpin curves. After about 40-45 minutes I reached the main road and I was so happy that it was this close since it might has well been a 2 hour walk since I had no idea how fast I drove this part. The first car didn't stop all though I was frantically waving my hands and signing him to stop. The second car came after about 10/15 more minutes while I was walking already in the right direction to the lodge. They were kind enough to gave me a ride to the lodge and gave me advice on what to do. (Call rental company)
I called Hertz (rental) but they suddenly couldn't find my record and couldn't help me, a most rude person 'helped' me on the phone. I then called the local rangers and they contacted a local emergency service for me. I had to stay for about one and a half hours in the lobby for the dude to come (since it was in the middle of no-where). I spend the time talking to the waiters and the lady from the gift shop which was very nice and kind. I drove with the emergency dude to the car and he was amazed I walked all that way. He had some nice tools to pick the lock including air pumps and long bendable rods and everything. After the small payment of 175 dollar (Auch!) I finally got into my car again and drove to the lodge to get a nice breakfast and thank the kind people over there. I bought a hat from the lodge to remember this adventure by.

TL 4.3 MM 1203 18:00 EST

At around 12:00 losing about 6 hours to the lock out I went to Washington. Along the way the GPS decided it had enough abuse and refused to turn on again. I went to the local Hertz location and got my 4th car (another Toyota Camry 2009 (red one)), I also got a confirmation that I could Couch-surf / Sofa Smash in Washington so I went to the Outback Restaurant in Washington to meet my host. After about an 40 minute wait for a table (Damn how busy) and during that wait a nice talk with a very obese but joyful family about the Winter Olympics and speed skating I met my host who was a waitress at this restaurant. She immediately gave me a great feeling of being welcome and I was loaded with all kinds of food and drinks which I could consume at the bar. She introduced all of her colleagues and friends while working very hard because of all the full restaurant. It was truly an amazing experience to be so welcomed by an at first stranger. At her home she had a guest room for me with a nice bed. I spend the night talking to crazy Billy who was partly Italian, Irish and a clown and my 2 female hosts Shawn and Isabelle who were both the kindest people ever.