Today we had plans to go to the Atwater Market and then depending on the rain or lack their of, we would either walk around Old Montreal or go to the Archeology Museum. We got to the market at about 10:30am and had just finished breakfast before we left. This was not great planning because if we knew we would want to eat everything we saw at the market, we would have come closer to lunch time. We walked around and I bought three figs so Cal could try one. Asa and the girls refused partly because of Cal telling them they have dead wasps in them. Nova and Asa shared some radishes. Esme was too full from breakfast to eat anything. We decided to go to a park and then return around noon or 1pm to eat at the market.

We went back to the car and we still had about 15 minutes left on the meter so I said we should wait until our meter runs out then refill the meter before walking to the park. We turned the car on to roll the windows down and then rested for 15 minutes. I tried to restart the engine to roll the windows up and I got a bunch of scary messages on the screen about brake systems and battery systems offline. It was clicking and not turning over and after some research, I saw that it was suggested to try a jump. The second I popped my hood, a nice gentleman asked if I needed a jump and pulled over to help me. It started right away and then we drove it around for a half hour or so.

Nova needed a bathroom so we drove to a grocery store and left the car running while I took her inside. Then we parked the car in the grocery parking lot (free parking for up to 90 minutes, yay!) and walked the block or two back to the market to have lunch.

Lunch was delicious! Then we walked back to the car and it started, whoot! We took a vote on what to do next and the consensus was the Archeology Museum. Cal was pretty insistent we go get the battery looked at or tested somewhere though so we headed to a NAPA store. We got there and unfortunately they don’t test batteries. Doh! Should have called first! I got a new battery for the remote for the car (it was dead and making it hard to lock up and start the car) and decided we would see if the battery thing was a fluke. Unfortunately when I went to start the car at NAPA (after driving it for 40 or so minutes), it wouldn’t start. The NAPA folks sold us a battery and gave us a jump but were not able to install the battery for us. After consulting with Nole via phone, we decided I could probably install it myself back at the campground so off we went.

Back at the campground, I borrowed a socket set from a neighbor and set to work loosening bolts. Here was about 10 minutes in…

The boys and I watched a video and got it changed. We did lose one of the ratchet pieces by dropping it in and even after removing the plastic tray behind the front bumper, we couldn’t find it. I offered to pay for the part but the people we borrowed the set from said not to worry about it.

Hopefully that is the end of the battery saga. I’m hoping it isn’t some other issue yet to be revealed that was draining the battery.

After the battery was installed we decided to stay in and try and get an early start tomorrow to Quebec City. We ate leftovers for dinner and prepared for a night of rain.