So there I was pretending to be like James Bond in Goldfinger, minus the Aston Martin (insert Pistachio Green Van) driving up one of the most awesome passes on Earth when all of a sudden I notice the entire roadway is filled with smoke, Godrays are in the van while the smoke detector is going off – I immediately pull over facing traffic, pop the hood and inhale a cloud of smoke. Did Pistachio Green just take her last breath? .

After nursing her back to health with some oil and antifreeze we drove over the pass and made it 50 miles down valley and boondocked in the steep hills next to a field of cows, but not before overheating once again.

Introduce Enrico – the mechanic who saved the day and possibly our lives. I hired him to check the brakes, change the oil and top up the fluids and he discovered that we had worn down two out of three layers of our brake lines, which is terrifying because we were headed right to the next grand pass. He basically told us we’d die if we kept driving. After confirming with Mechanic Mark from Carp, Ontario we decided to listen to Enrico, (who I am now best friends with) rented a car and asked Enrico to park the van in his lot so we’d at least have somewhere to sleep while we await the custom made brake lines.

So what now? No van for at least 5 days as we await the new parts from Zurich. In the meantime, we’re stuck in a town where the restaurants only serve one meal (sausage, rice and Brussels sprouts) where there is a single train, Germany to the North, Italy to the south and perhaps an epic motorcycle on the horizon…

#Vanlife adventure continues… the road where anything goes.