usvi-on-line
just returned--great story about why we love STJ!
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paulandtracie
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:45 am
- Location: Michigan
just returned--great story about why we love STJ!
Hard to believe we swam in Francis Bay yesterday morning and had to go back to work today! 
We had a great trip, pictures to follow, but I wanted to share a story about one of the reasons (among many) that we love St. John, and why sometimes good things really do come out of bad situations.
We stayed at Cruz Views the first couple of nights and had a funny rattling noise with our Jeep. The Jeep belongs to a friend who is off island so we did NOT want anything to happen to it while he was gone!
We left the driveway of Cruz Views (and if you've ever been there you know this is a driveway with a grade steep enough for tobogganing), headed to see Innervisions at the Beach Bar on the 4th. The noise in the Jeep was so bad we pulled over immediately, thinking we would go back to the parking lot, but the jeep would not go into gear. We got out and tried to push it to the side of the road, thinking the worst.
Within 2 minutes, a man and his son drove up and helped us push it aside. He asked what was wrong, we told him, and he said he fixed cars but he was working at Festival Village that night and could he come by at 8:30 the next morning to give it a look? We said OK, walked back to Cruz Views and figured 'what the heck?'
We missed seeing Innervisions and thought about just walking to town, but decided to stay at Cruz Views and just hang out until fireworks. By sheer stroke of luck, a group of St. Croix residents had come over for festival and were staying at the rest of the units at Cruz Views. They were a 'quadrille' cultural dance troupe and we had attended their wonderful performance in the park the night before during Emancipation Day ceremonies. We grilled some fish, poured some drinks and had the best evening with them by the pool, trading stories, learning about their traditions, laughing, watching the fireworks and having a great time!
We had no idea if the man who fixed cars would actually return the next morning, and wondered how on earth we were going to get the Jeep fixed (and what ridiculous sum of money would be required to get it done), but sure enough, at 8:30 am he comes by and tells my husband that he has gotten behind with another car and could he come back at 9:10? Sure enough he comes back at 9:10 on the dot. He looks under the hood, says he thinks he knows what's wrong and he wants to tow it up the hill to his garage to look further. Well, of course any sane person in almost any mainland city would think 'OK this guy is going to steal/strip/break my vehicle' But...this is St. John, so we said 'Sure!', let him take the Jeep and went back to the pool.
After a few hours, we started to get nervous, wondering if we made a mistake, but about 2:00 that afternoon, he called my husband, who walked up the hill to his shop. The 'fix it' man has not only fixed the Jeep, but shows him exactly which part is broken and why, and gives him the part with info on what to look for on the internet if we want more details on it. Total cost: less than $180, towing, parts and labor. Seriously, just showing up at the door of my local Ford dealer costs more than that.
Relief from knowing we did not wreck our friend's Jeep was priceless.
Moral of the story: if your Jeep breaks, call B & B Body Repairs-- 340-776-6591--and no, we have no affiliation or interest in the business. Just an honest guy doing good work. His name is 'Eustice' but locals know him as 'Bus Boy'. He gave us a refrigerator magnet to take home that says "You Bend 'Em, We Mend 'Em!"
And... we met a great group of new friends and talented dancers from St. Croix, just because our Jeep broke.
I love St. John.
We had a great trip, pictures to follow, but I wanted to share a story about one of the reasons (among many) that we love St. John, and why sometimes good things really do come out of bad situations.
We stayed at Cruz Views the first couple of nights and had a funny rattling noise with our Jeep. The Jeep belongs to a friend who is off island so we did NOT want anything to happen to it while he was gone!
We left the driveway of Cruz Views (and if you've ever been there you know this is a driveway with a grade steep enough for tobogganing), headed to see Innervisions at the Beach Bar on the 4th. The noise in the Jeep was so bad we pulled over immediately, thinking we would go back to the parking lot, but the jeep would not go into gear. We got out and tried to push it to the side of the road, thinking the worst.
Within 2 minutes, a man and his son drove up and helped us push it aside. He asked what was wrong, we told him, and he said he fixed cars but he was working at Festival Village that night and could he come by at 8:30 the next morning to give it a look? We said OK, walked back to Cruz Views and figured 'what the heck?'
We missed seeing Innervisions and thought about just walking to town, but decided to stay at Cruz Views and just hang out until fireworks. By sheer stroke of luck, a group of St. Croix residents had come over for festival and were staying at the rest of the units at Cruz Views. They were a 'quadrille' cultural dance troupe and we had attended their wonderful performance in the park the night before during Emancipation Day ceremonies. We grilled some fish, poured some drinks and had the best evening with them by the pool, trading stories, learning about their traditions, laughing, watching the fireworks and having a great time!
We had no idea if the man who fixed cars would actually return the next morning, and wondered how on earth we were going to get the Jeep fixed (and what ridiculous sum of money would be required to get it done), but sure enough, at 8:30 am he comes by and tells my husband that he has gotten behind with another car and could he come back at 9:10? Sure enough he comes back at 9:10 on the dot. He looks under the hood, says he thinks he knows what's wrong and he wants to tow it up the hill to his garage to look further. Well, of course any sane person in almost any mainland city would think 'OK this guy is going to steal/strip/break my vehicle' But...this is St. John, so we said 'Sure!', let him take the Jeep and went back to the pool.
After a few hours, we started to get nervous, wondering if we made a mistake, but about 2:00 that afternoon, he called my husband, who walked up the hill to his shop. The 'fix it' man has not only fixed the Jeep, but shows him exactly which part is broken and why, and gives him the part with info on what to look for on the internet if we want more details on it. Total cost: less than $180, towing, parts and labor. Seriously, just showing up at the door of my local Ford dealer costs more than that.
Relief from knowing we did not wreck our friend's Jeep was priceless. Moral of the story: if your Jeep breaks, call B & B Body Repairs-- 340-776-6591--and no, we have no affiliation or interest in the business. Just an honest guy doing good work. His name is 'Eustice' but locals know him as 'Bus Boy'. He gave us a refrigerator magnet to take home that says "You Bend 'Em, We Mend 'Em!"
And... we met a great group of new friends and talented dancers from St. Croix, just because our Jeep broke.
I love St. John.
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SOonthebeach
- Posts: 1707
- Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:01 am
- Location: Texas
I find living here that it is an amazing small town in many ways - your story is a perfect example, including your possible apprehension concerning any mainland city about stripping the car or the rip off on cost of the repair. There is so much personal interaction in our community that your experience is not really unusual but instead it is often the norm - meeting new people with a different cultural outlook, sharing an evening together, some one stopping on the side of the road to offer help, finding an honest, earnest tradesman who will go out of his way to make a difference - these are all good parts of living here and I am glad your trip included some wonderful Island moments that many tourists never get to see.
Remember to pay it forward too - that is the grease that makes it all happen in many ways.
Remember to pay it forward too - that is the grease that makes it all happen in many ways.
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cool breeze
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- Location: N.H
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EagleRayLover
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- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:56 pm
- Location: St. John -WooHoo!!
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Capn Dan and Ruby
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paulandtracie
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:45 am
- Location: Michigan
Exit Zero, thanks for the great insight and you are so right...paying it forward is what keeps it all good! Ironically we have a nice center for the arts here in our town in Michigan and we are trying to connect with them to see if we might get the Quadrille group up here for a visit. Many of the folks from the dance troupe haven't seen snow and they thought it would be so great to experience it...but since I dig through the snow here up to 6 months a year, I think they are delusional At any rate we will see what happens.
At any rate we will see what happens.[/url]
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Kentuckygirl
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- Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Kentucky
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Tracy in WI
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msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
That is truly an "only on ST. John" story! 
Glad you had a great trip but sorry we missed you on the 4th and last Sunday at Maho . . . time to plan your next trip back~ 
Glad you had a great trip but sorry we missed you on the 4th and last Sunday at Maho . . . time to plan your next trip back~ I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]