Marooned in Maryland

It's 4PM on Monday afternoon and we're cruising through the tunnel under the Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. We've been on the road for twenty hours and have only about four left until our final destination in New York City. Funkwagen is having a lot of trouble accelerating.

One minute later, the engine temp arrow leaps frantically to the "H." I start cursing as thick gray smoke begins to stream out of our tailpipe. I coast to the nearest exit and while desperately changing lanes. We're going about 15 mph and cars are building up behind us. We're on an overpass and incredibly there is a shoulder for us to pull onto. At this point the thick foreboding haze is billowing out from under the hood and permeating the interior. The stench of burning oil is frightening and I seriously think the car is going to explode. Throwing it in park we leap wildly our the bi-fold doors into fresh air. I rush to the hood to let out the smoke and see a pool of dark oil accumulating underneath the engine.

Eventually the smoke clears and the tow-truck comes. I'm thankful that Jamie is an AAA+ member (the + gives you 100 free miles of towing). He knows cars and he's certain that the transmission has finally given out. Oh Funkwagen I pray that you will heal.

Jamie and I are in the tow truck while Evan and Andy wait on the highway for a cab. Suddenly the driver curses. We turn around and to our great surpise Funkwagen is no longer with us. As we went up the hill she somehow slipped off the tow-truck and careened over a guardrail and a parked car in a parking lot. We couldn't help it, Jamie and I just started to laugh. I guess Funkwagen just wasn't getting enough action or had a lot of subconscious issues to play out today. Ironically, she crashed into the parking lot of a mechanic that specializes in transmissions!

Meanwhile, Andy and Evan are getting accosted by the local police. While they wait for their cab (which never came, Aerocab sucks), an officer of the law runs their IDs and requires a great deal of persuasion to believe that our beloved Moxie mates are not really grafitti artists. What? That doesn't even make sense. To cap it off, he doesn't offer them a ride. Luckily, Alex, the owner of Majestic Automotive Repair kindly offers to pick them up for us. He also later drops us off at the hotel where I currently type this blog.

Check back soon for videos of the damage and the towing, and perhaps some elaboration of details. Of course the question now is, what the hell are we going to do? We have a show in NY on Wednesday and another in D.C. on Thursday. I had to cancel two shows we were working on for the weekend but might get some happy hour type gigs added in Baltimore since that seems to be where we'll be. The question of course is, how are we getting our equipment to the gigs? Doc my roommate from Spain has offered to pick us up, we might rent a car, we might rent a uhaul for Ned's parents car. Any ideas, suggestions? What do you think of our adventures so far? What would you spend your time doing if you were carless (and rather the opposite of careless) on the North-Eastern outskirts of Baltimore, MD?