So I am in Calgary this week for some training and testing. And of course the usual car repairs. Because apparently my car finds HOME to be too convenient of a place to break down. I actually have a regular mechanic in a town that I don't live in.

Last year, alternator goes on a balmy January Calgary night leaving me to do jumping jacks on the side of a deserted road in order to stay warm waiting for the tow truck. Mechanic tells me brakes need to be done too. The next year I get the ball joints replaced at home. But Fiona decides the Squamish job isn't good enough, and sure enough the minute I get to Calgary the clunking starts again.

So. Yesterday I am driving down the highway, rocking out to some Coldplay and this guy passes me in the left lane. I think to myself "Geez, that is a loud freakin' truck." And as he pulls ahead and leaves me in his wake, I wonder why his loud freakingness doesn't go along with him. And then I think "Uh-oh."

Yup. Sure enough, the thundering noise is coming from somewhere between my back bumper and my front bumper. It seriously sounds like a 18-year-boy has pimped out my car while I had my back turned. But wait a minute. I have a brand new muffler. Huh. This can't be good.

So I pull into the shopping centre that I was headed to anyways, and while drowning my anger in a vat of Yogen Fruz, I first phone my Calgary mechanic. No dice, he can't get me in until tomorrow. But I have somewhere important to be this afternoon. As far on the other side of town as possible. And I kinda want to know if there is any potential that my car might blow up if I drive it anywhere other than directly to a repair shop.

So, courtesy of my BFF Rufus, I email my other, other mechanic in Germany (hey man, just covering my bases. I can break down in three provinces on two continents, and I am good to go ... ) to see if he could give me a guess on what might be wrong, as well as any insight into the possibility of fiery explosions.

So, I get a return email, speculating a possible ... ummm ... malfunction ... in my exhaust system, and telling me to take a quick peak under the car, since if it is really bad, I will have no trouble spotting it.

Oh. So, do you think it might be THIS COMPLETELY SEVERED EXHAUST PIPE that is causing some of the noise?

Turns out the answer is yes, the severed pipe was the problem.