Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Adventures of Huckleberry, Scaramouche and Mary

Sunday evening was seriously one of the craziest and funniest evenings ever. After visiting Mariposa in southern Germany this weekend, what should have been a 4.5 hour drive home with Huckleberry turned into a 7-or-so hour crisis. 'Twas but a fun and entertaining crisis.

It all started out peaceful and innocent enough... driving through the lovely German country side, talking, eating chocolates and listening to music. By the way, The White Stripes is probably the only band whose sound is actually improved when listened to on old, trashed-out car speakers. But when we decided to switch drivers at the next gas station, Scaramouche wouldn't start up. After trying practically everything possible, including being helped by a mechanic with jumper cables, Huckleberry wiggled a few cables around and she miraculously started.

Normal people would have simply driven home at this point; the story should have ended here. But are we normal? And did it end here? No and nooooooo. Of course not. :)

Huckleberry: "We're getting close to Siegburg, where I was in the military last year... do you want to see the barracks?"
Mary: "Yeah, definitely."
*thinks it'd be interesting to compare it to Paris Island, where Dad was in the military*
Huckleberry: "It'll be about a ten minute detour."
Mary: "Ten minutes... that's not bad. We have time."


Ten minutes. Hahaha. Little did we know.

Instead of simply driving by the barracks and looking, we took a detour from our detour and drove to a place called Michael's Platz Berg, which is on top of a little mountain where you can look out over the city. Scaramouche made it up the mountain; we wandered around and looked down at the city; it was all fun and lovely until we got back to the car...

Huckleberry: *looks at me with a funny face* "Oooh, the car won't start."
Mary: "Stop it! That's not a joking matter."
Huckleberry: "No, it really won't start."
Mary: "Das Leben..."


The first time Scaramouche acted up, we were at a nice, lit-up gas station and could easily get help... but this time, we were at the top of some semi-secluded mountain; his cell phone battery was practically dead; I had 88 Euro Cents on my cell phone; and wiggling the cables around didn't seem to help.

We managed to roll the car part-way down the hill under a lamppost, and thanks to Mr. E, we knew approximately what had to be done. At one point I was even under the car, tinkering around, while the motor was running (Dad, are you proud or what??). Huckleberry decided to give it one last try, but when things started sparking, metal pieces started flying, and it looked like he was electrocuting himself, I kind of freaked out and told him we ought to call it an evening.

Huckleberry: "Looks like we're going to have to take the train home... but trains are fun."
Mary: "Ok, let's get the important stuff out of the car..."
Huckleberry: "And let's roll it to a legal parking space..."
Mary: "But first, let's try to turn it on once more."
Huckleberry: "Sure, why not?"
*turns the key in the ignition*
Scaramouche: "I'M ALIVE!"

Yes, she started up again. Just like that. It was the strangest thing.

This time, however, we unanimously decided not to stop the car... no matter how many interesting sights there were to see on the way home.

When we reached the Moers-Huelsdonk Exit*, which looked especially bright and beautiful that evening, he suggested we drive around a little more just for fun, but it was pushing 1 AM, the CD was coming to an end, and we were both pretty dirty and tired.

'Twas quite the adventure.

Here are some pictures... enjoy. :)









*our exit for Neukirchen-Vluyn

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's called
"michaels berg"

also wer so ein Abenteuer auch mal erleben will, wir können gernen nächstes mal jemanden mitnehmen
:-)

Mary Elizabeth said...

Emilie, you weird monkey! Where/how did you translate that? And you should say "du" to me instead of "Sie." "Sie" is the formal version of you... and we are sisters, so should be on du-terms w/ eachother. I LOVE YOU!

Tobi, thanks for the correction. :) Und ja, wir, und wer noch mitmachen will, muessen noch was unternehmen. Aber solche Abenteuer sind nur einmalig... so was lustiges kann nicht wiederholt werden. :) Aber dafuer wirds bestimmt irgendein anderes Abenteuer geben.