Productive Day, Car Rental
19 February 2018 | Roberts Grove, Belize
Susan / mostly cloudy, windy, 81 degrees F
Today is a very productive day. Jerry makes excellent progress on the newest Mintaka branded product. He changes the port engine impeller and gets started on replacing the sugar scoop shower (of course the new one is just enough different than the original to require modifications...). I get 2/3rd thru my interior boat cleaning & disenfecting tasks. At 2pm Jerry calls the rental car place to confirm we have a vehicle, we do. We walk down to do the paperwork and collect it, then drive back to pick up Kim & Mike for Placencia shopping (aka beer run ka'imi-speak) They pick up 4 cases of beer and a few bags of groceries. I only get things for tomorrow's early departure; bread & lettuce for sandwiches, Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, V8, iced tea, and cranberry juice; well, that plus beer. I forgot the 5 gal water jug but we can exchange this tomorrow.
As we're driving back, we all hear a strange noise. Reminds Jerry & I of our flat tire experience when we rented a car in Roatan. Jerry pull off the road. Yep, back right tire completely flat. We're a mile, maybe two, from the car rental place so Kim & I start walking to alert them to our problem (everyone has forgotten their cellphones..) while Mike & Jerry unload the 5 cases of beer and start the process of replacing it with the spare. We walk about a mile, looking out for a cruiser / vacationer in a golf cart that may give us a lift when a police pickup appears. I wave, he waves as he drives past, I wave a little more urgently, he stops. I quickly walk back and explain the situation and ask if he'd be willing to give us a lift. He is, so Kim & I pile into the backseat.
The rental car guy looks alarmed as Kim & I get out the police vehicle. Did the car catch fire? I'm thinking... why would the car catch fire? No, flat tire. We can fix it right here, he says. In the end, he has his guys pull the spare from another Xterra to ready it for Jerry & Mike's arrival. 15 mi later they pull into the rental car place. Again the cases of beer have to be removed from the trunk to install the spare. The rental car guy knows Mike & Kim pretty well, as they're rented a car and golf cart from him. Mike razzes him, saying hey, we recommended you to our friends here and you give them a flat time vehicle?? Hahaha. The guy's reply is perhaps it was the weight of all of that beer. When Jerry says, we're going to the capital tomorrow morning, will this car make it? He assures us he's given us his best car.