Stuck in the mud

I've got about five days of catching up to do, so I'm going to summarize each day. Internet connectivity is pretty limited, which is why I haven't posted much lately. I think the last time I posted was before we left Rome, so time for a bit of backtracking. We left Rome on Wednesday morning.

Paige, Dylan and I walked to the car rental agency near the Vatican to pick up the cars, and I was right - one of them was a Fiat Ducato, which is huge. We found our way back to the apartment with no problem at all and picked everyone up. However, trying to get out of the city and onto the highway was a different story. After driving around in circles a bit, we eventually managed to find the autostrada and made our journey east. Renee was using a Garmin GPS satellite device that seemed to want to get us out of town, but had an odd way of doing it.

We drove to the B&B in Torella del Sannio, and arrived at about 2:30 PM or so. The drive was pretty easy, and the scenery was beautiful. The B&B is fantsatic. The owners are Luciano and Giuseppe, who goes by the nickname "Beppe." They were waiting for us and seemed very happy when we arrived. They also had a woman named Domenica working for them as their assistant. She did the cooking, cleaning, etc.

Luciano speaks pretty fluent English, but Beppe and Domenica (who also goes by the nickname Tata) do not. So I got to be the translator for what they were telling us.

Anyway, we told them that we were heading to Castelbottaccio, and that their B&B in Torella del Sannio was the only place we could find that was near there. Luciano told us that it was pretty easy to get to Castelbottaccio from their place, and after we checked in and got our bags into our rooms we were all set to get on the road. But they had a different idea.

Luciano wanted us to follow him around town to show us where things were. First, to a restaurant named La Fontana, then to the best gelateria in Molise (according to him), then to his house. Dad was in a big hurry to get to Castelbottaccio, so we only got a chance to see the outside of the restaurant and the gelateria, and then he had us follow him to his house.

He invited us in for drinks, but Dad said no, we had to get on the road to Castelbottaccio. So we thanked him and we were on our way. Or so we thought. Renee's satellite navi system had a different idea.

We followed its directions for a bit, but missed a turn. Then it recalculated. Right into a dirt road. Which turned out to be impassabile for the Ducato.

Renee and Paige brought walkie talkies with them, and they radioed back to the four of us in the "normal" car that there was a "mud puddle," and they decided to try to drive through it. I should've realized that was a dumb idea as soon as Paige started to back up to pick up enough speed to get through it.

We were stuck. Many efforts were made to move the thing, but to no avail.

Luckily, I had my cell phone with me and had programmed Luciano's number into it before we left for Italy, so I called him and asked for help. He had me call Tomaso, the local car repair guy in Torella del Sannio. I then managed to make about a 27 point turn (as opposed to the normal 3 point) to get the other car facing back to town. Eight of us piled into the car, which is designed for five, and we left Paige, Dylan and Taran back in the woods.

We managed to find the car repair shop, and the owner's wife, Domenica, spoke fluent English because she lived in the US for about 8 years, in Union City, NJ. She spoke English with a Jersey accent.

She shuttled everyone but Renee and me back to the B&B, then came back to the shop. Renee and I drove lead and Tomaso and Domenica followed us back into the woods.

To make a long story shorter, Tomaso managed to tow the Ducato out of the woods, and got it running for us again. The tow and cleaning the car cost 100 Euros, and it was well worth it. We didn't make it to Castelbottaccio that night though, of course, but we had a fantastic meal at the restaurant Lucioano recommended. Unfortunately, we never did get to taste the best gelato in Molise.