Addendum to - the Long, Long Trip.

 My Ultimate "Insurance" Policy

For those who don’t know, I have been a born again Christian for many years. That “event” was basically a dedication to living my life as God directs. He gave us the Bible as a guide book. I will admit to often being more taken with secular subjects than the Bible. Things written prior to 1960 seem so archaic! But with the guidance of many teachers, preachers, and of fellow Christians - I have attempted to follow the lifestyle that Jesus laid out for us 2000 years ago.

During trials such as the “Long, Long Trip”, I made reference to saying a prayer or other oblique mentions of my faith. This was done to not offend non-believers who might have found my story entertaining. But it is not the whole truth. I depend 100% on the Lord to guide my steps. Things aren’t always rosy. The famous psalm mentions walking “through the valley of death.” That is not a walk in the park! But God promises to be with me.

I tell my story for others to see how I handled life handing me multiple unpleasant, potentially dangerous, situations. If we do not share our stories, then what good are the lessons we learn? We try to insulate ourselves from catastrophe. We buy insurance policies, we do maintenance, we seek advice from counselors. But one day I found myself alone on a cold and lonely road. Yet I kept smiling. I had no doubt, no doubt, that I was in the loving hands of my Creator. I hope you have this assurance also.

Long, Long Trip, Part 5. The Conclusion.

 

I am now back to my friends in the Pelican State. The dog gets a great new home. The friends get to play tourist in Louisiana and Texas and then they head back to Arizona, going right through little isolated Van Horn, Texas. The repair shop finally notifies me late on Jan 10th that the truck is “fixed,”  the $400 worth of parts installed. I pay the bill over the phone. My girlfriends volunteer to pick up my truck on Friday morning Jan 13th. T.A. becomes an official member of W.W.D.D.P.A. (Women Who Drive Diesel Pickups of America) which is a society I just made up. She’s a brave lass! This is great timing. It means I did not have to travel six hours back to Texas myself to get my truck.

Everything goes well for 262 miles/420 km.

The engine quits and T.A. glides off the interstate highway into a large parking area in New Mexico at the Continental Divide. It is an absolute miracle - the timing of it - that she is able to safely get off the road. I get a phone call…

After a number of calls, my friends are able to leave my truck and continue their trip to Arizona. A tow driver picks it up later and takes it into Lordsburg, New Mexico where, surprisingly, there is a Ford Dealership, which means actual Ford trained mechanics. They reassure me that they will get a look at it soon. Soon? 

I call them every couple of days. They are just about to get to it. Again and again. Meanwhile I am getting rides, and borrowing a car in order to buy the necessities of life. Must Have Coffee! My community college night school classes begin but I can’t get there. Please don’t drop me from the class!

After an entire week goes by with nothing from the Ford experts, they finally - on a late Friday afternoon - regret to inform me that nobody on staff has the expertise to diagnose what is wrong with my truck. Why he didn’t know this within a day, I do not know. They recommend the truck be towed to my town. The best diesel shop in the area is right here where I am living. Okay. So I call for another tow, this time about 82 miles/130 km. For those keeping count, this is tow number five of the trip. The final tow is set for Monday Jan 23.

A freak snowstorm hits on Monday Jan 23. A snowstorm in the southwest! Tow truck does not leave for New Mexico as it is snowing there too. It is not a crippling storm, but where it only snows even a little bit maybe once a year, any snow is significant. I go take snow pictures and wait.

My baby, or my beast (nickname depends upon my mood) truck finally arrives in my town on Tuesday Jan 24, about three weeks later than I expected. And it sits in the shop parking area. And it sits. The diesel shop is slammed with work. As is the case in many professions, there are not enough people to fill the jobs. Finally the main issue is identified. Parts are ordered. Contributing issues are also identified but these can be addressed later. 

It is a humbling experience to live far outside a town and have no transportation available. Although people continually offered me rides or to loan me their vehicle. I have so many wonderful friends! But I kept busy getting a lot of material ready for the landfill and one just doesn’t load up a borrowed vehicle with refuse! Anyway, it had been 50 years since I had been without ready access to transportation. Oh, a day here and there, of course. But this was now 4 weeks without my truck. Thank goodness so much commerce can be transacted online. Cat food and cat litter came to my door by FedEx and UPS. Happy cats are a priority! 

The day my baby finally came home and finished its trip from NY to AZ was February 2nd. I can go to my college night classes. I can go to the dump. I can go buy groceries, coffee even (!), just anytime I want, day or night. I can just step out my door and jump in the truck and go anywhere I want, whenever I want. As long as I can afford the fuel! This is a freedom I will never take for granted, ever again. The experience has been challenging, I applied much patience. But the joy of being blessed by strangers, and friends alike, it was just priceless. May they all reap outsized rewards in return!

For any mechanics out there, the main culprit was an ICP sensor. Once the other nagging issues are taken care of next week, the diesel expert believes I will have a dependable truck for at least the next 100,000 miles. I certainly hope so. It is a wonderful beast! Even if it did give me some grief - and a long, long trip!  

Long, Long Trip, Part 4

When the office manager leaves for work, she assures me that she will let me know as soon as the truck is done. So I peek in my food storage and things are getting pretty scarce. Then I notice there’s a mini-van parked at a residence behind the motel and a sign on it says “taxi”. I am getting desperate. I call the number. Yes, she will take me to McDonald’s and back. A lady about my age shows up having just finished a cigarette but I am not judging. I am hungry. I spend $7 on food and $14 on the taxi ride.

At noon the office manager comes back to the motel for lunch. She regrets to inform me that the delivery of parts from El Paso is rather late today. So even if it shows up - there is not enough time in the day for the mechanics to “drop the engine” and replace this set of parts that cost over $400. But it will be done on Monday! 

Being prepared for this, I ask her if she could drop me at the U-Haul rental store on her way back to work after lunch. They rent me the only truck available. A very large 26 foot cabover. Very costly. But I am not staying another night in Van Horn. Due to all the items I am hauling back from NY to Arizona, I cannot rent an automobile, even if there was such a business in Van Horn, which there was not. But my few belongings look pitiful in this enormous van.

The final insult is when I check out at 1:00 pm I ask how much is the late check out fee? Normal check out is 11:00 AM. Obviously I had no way of checking out prior to having a vehicle. So here is a 16 unit motel, only 2 rooms are rented. I am checking out 2 hours over the limit. They tell me, oh, so sorry. No late check outs allowed. I must pay for the entire night. 

One of the shop employees helps me load my van of my truck bed boxes and such. That was decent of them. I am about to leave and Cruz shows me a box. Look what has finally showed up! My parts. It’ll be done Monday, they will call me…

It wasn’t bad to drive such a big van. Smelled new too as it only had 9000 miles on it. Everyone stayed out of my way through El Paso where construction meant restricted narrow lanes. But if the semi-trucks could handle it, I could. It was such a relief to get out of Texas. Mind you I know lots of Texans. Most are the finest people on earth. But I just had a bad taste in my mouth from some of the people in Van Horn.

I covered the 375 miles/600 km from Van Horn, Texas to Safford, Arizona in a bit more than 6 hours because of the slow big truck. Arrived after dark, which meant no water that night but this was not a big deal. I would have electric lights and I would have natural gas heat and my gas stove. I knew I would appreciate that cook stove after 16 months of enduring a hard to operate electric stove.

Another embarrassing wrinkle was I had asked my neighbor to leave my back door unlocked. I had not been able to locate my house key. (I later found it had fallen and was hiding under things on the floor of my truck - which was of course, still in Texas.) Except he thought I was going to be there on Tuesday and this was Friday night. He didn’t think I’d want to have that door unlocked all that time. So I go to get into my house and everything is locked. I call my neighbor and he is an hour away, out of town, on his way back, and he has the key on his keychain! So he invited me to wait inside his house which was much warmer than outside of course! Temperatures at night can be near freezing in January. 

Eventually I get into my house! I’m home! On Jan 6th, at last! But it is cold in the house so I go to turn on the furnace. The batteries are dead in the thermostat! Where are batteries? I can’t remember. So I rob batteries from a wall clock and put it back up. It is 52ºF/11ºC in the house as I hear it fire up. I get my cats and a few things unloaded for the night. Put my food in the refrigerator. My bedroom furniture is all piled into other rooms. The bedroom is totally empty so the remodeling could be done while I was away. It is wonderful! Painted a cheerful blue, the white trim is sparkling, the wood trim is even enhanced. I throw down my camping cushions for the night and my sleeping bag. But… it doesn’t seem to be getting very warm in here? It is now 50º/10ºC!! What? I shut off the furnace and get out my little space heater for the bedroom. At least I’ll warm up one room and figure it out in the morning.

It’s 49ºF/9ºC in the morning. So I call the Heating/AC company for a weekend call. This why I wanted to arrive during the week. You get weekday rates but now I have to get costly after hours service. (I expected to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.) Technician shows up promptly, takes one look at my furnace room and says, oh, your gas valve isn’t turned on. He turns it on and I got heat. What the heck? The gas company turned on my gas service, checked my gas stove, but turned off my furnace gas supply? What on earth? Why would they do that? I didn’t even know there was a gas valve in there. Live and learn. 

The story of my hot water heater is another deal. For 35 years the gas appliance has faithfully heated water on my back porch without setting my house on fire. Now the gas company tech said it cannot be lit due to inadequate ventilation. It does not pass code. It needs an exhaust vent pipe. It is outside on an open porch. But it needs a chimney to pass code. Okay. Whatever. Due to the effort of an angel, a vent pipe was installed and I got hot water after a few days delay. Cold showers are not optimal! 

Using a heavy wrench I go turn on my water valve. Find the toilet running but no other leaks. So finally I think, that must be it. 

I go to make coffee and part of my coffeemaker is missing. What? Why is this? So I make instant coffee. Oh well. Basic coffeemakers are cheap. Very strange though. 

Later I try to heat something up in my really old microwave and it dies mid-operation. Totally dead. Oh well. Microwaves are not terribly expensive.

Not 12 hours later I am sitting in my arm chair relaxing. Except for my truck, which means having no transportation, things aren’t so bad. I’m home. I’m safe. The cats are safe. I can go get food in my big U-Haul truck. I need to return it on Tuesday. (It is Saturday Jan 7.) I’ll figure out something to be able to retrieve my truck from Texas next week. Then I hear the odd gurgling, coming from my refrigerator. After an hour of that music, the refrigerator dies. Totally dead. What? 

So, I start to think, is this the last thing? When do I get a break? But really, what do I mean? Things are getting better. I’m learning something new every day. (There’s a gas valve in the furnace room!) I wake up in the morning eager to see what opportunity will present itself that day.

I got hot water. I got central heat. I got delivery of a nice new black refrigerator after I borrowed a dorm frig for a few days. Walmart had coffeemakers cheap and a sale on microwaves. I got wall to wall rug installed in my new bedroom and moved my furniture back in. I feel like a queen every time I walk in the room.

Oh yeah, the U-Haul management messed around with me by telling me it would be impossible for me to drop off the van here in town, I had to take it 40 miles/64 km to Willcox, Arizona. This was so inconvenient to have to ask someone to follow me so far so I could drop it off when my contract said I could drop it in Safford. I call it a rather underhanded business practice. It is not up to me to get furious over how I was treated by U-Haul and the motel in Van Horn. There are ultimate penalties for how we treat others, whether we are a business, or in a personal interaction. I have peace. I know it is not up to me to get justice for being wronged. 

But when do I get my truck back? To be continued…

Long, Long Trip, Part 3

 AA Auto and Truck repair was one of the biggest repair shops in tiny Van Horn, Texas, population 1753. The tow truck driver, Cruz, was a lifelong mechanic. My impression was he was trustworthy. I felt pretty confident when he said it could be a clogged fuel filter. When did I last change it? Umm, fuel filter? I don’t know anything about a fuel filter. I had major work done in 2019, new batteries, etc., so I assumed things like that were done? I was starting to feel like the proverbial dumb blonde although the blonde is mostly grey now! In my early 20’s I did things like change oil, filters, clean spark plugs, but that was many moons ago. I had a husband who was very handy and he did all the mechanical chores. I grew away from the greasy fingernail jobs. Now as a widow of two years I am being asked when I last changed a fuel filter. I shrug my shoulders.

New fuel filter. It does not start.

A couple more mechanics join the group looking under the hood. Maybe it is the crankshaft sensor, someone said they saw that cause this once. It is ordered from the auto parts store. Eventually it arrives, is installed and turn the key. But it does not start. Mechanics drift away to work on a semi-truck needing a wheel bearing. Cruz starts to wiggle things. I turn the key. Nothing. Wiggle something else. Nothing. Wiggle this and vroom! We have the answer!

A conclave a mechanics is assembled and the general consensus is that I need to have this expensive job done, but I am so close to Arizona, that they all agree that if it was them, they would take the chance and get it repaired as soon as possible. If engine loses power again, I should just get under the hood and wiggle that thing. It seems a reasonable plan of action. I play the ridiculously expensive bill and buy fuel (prices not bad here) and I’m rolling down the highway again, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Until I wasn’t. Engine quits. I climb under the hood and try several times, wiggling the thing. But it isn’t working. 

Cruz comes out to rescue me, again, as I’m only 13 miles west of Van Horn. They don’t charge me for the second tow job. Which is the only break they ever give me. Unfortunately tiny Van Horn does not stock this expensive thing so it must be ordered from El Paso and should be delivered at noon or 1 pm tomorrow. Would I like the office manager to take me to a motel?

She takes me, the cats, the litter box, the cat food and dishes, my ice chest and my personal items to the Budget Inn. She owns the Budget Inn. It is at the very bottom of acceptable for comfort, and cleanliness. Not a single luxury. No coffee pot. No radio. No shampoo. No hair dryer. One thin towel, one thin wash cloth, one thin hand towel. Decor from the 1980’s. A TV that has lines through the picture. But the bed is comfortable. I can handle this for one night. Cats hide under bed which is actually cleaner than the Motel 6 but I wouldn’t call it “clean.” She does not charge me extra for “pets.” But the daily fee is $20 more than the Motel 6. Whatever. It is just one night. And it is very quiet. It is located way out on the far edge of town. No stores or restaurants within many blocks. Van Horn, like many southwest interstate towns, is a shadow of its former self. More empty and abandoned buildings than occupied buildings. There was one tiny restaurant a block and half away. I walked over there only to find that it is only open on weekends, if the elderly owner is feeling up to opening. There is a McDonald’s - on the other side of the interstate, maybe a 1.5 or 2 miles away. But due to my annoying foot and leg problems, this is far too far for me to walk. But it is only for one night…Wednesday Jan 4 comes to an end.

Thursday morning the office manager drops me at a wonderful Mexican restaurant for breakfast, on her way to work. The food is divine. I have really missed authentic Mexican food during the months I’ve stayed in the north. Then I start to walk back to the motel. How far is it? I walk and walk. I find a couple places to sit and rest. My legs, my feet, are telling me that this is not a good idea. I spot a lady with grey hair coming out of the post office so I ask her if she is going west because I really need a ride to my motel. I explain my truck is in the shop, etc. She says she’s actually going east but she’d be pleased to run me over to my motel, it’s not too much trouble. What a delightful lady and her chihuahua Peanut!

Out of the blue, I get a call from A.A. (a friend I know from Arizona) who is traveling to Louisiana and will be stopping in Van Horn for lunch. Do I want to meet? You bet! A friendly face is welcome indeed. She and T.A. are relocating a large dog to a new home in the Pelican State. I get to see my friends, pet a dog, and eat some really hot Mexican food in the same restaurant. 

The office manager informs me that the part was not in today’s delivery but it should come tomorrow (Friday) for sure. Then they can get me back on the road. I ask repeatedly to make sure I will only need to spend one more night. Answer is “Absolutely.” The shop does not work on Saturdays. So if it can’t be done by 5 pm Friday. It won’t be done until Monday. 

Okay. I'm not happy. But I can handle one more night in the Budget Inn. The sun goes down on Jan 5th. The low lonely sound of the Union Pacific railroad rumbling by puts me to sleep.

To be continued…

Long, Long Trip, Part 2

 Around 30 years ago I knew a young lady who I'll call E.R. She moved back to Texas with her parents and I lost track of her. Due to the miracles of social media, I found E.R. living in Fort Worth with her own family now, and very cute Munchkin Scottish Fold cats. So, as I sat in my ailing truck in Fort Worth, I gave her a call. Her home was sadly enduring Covid, but although she couldn't help directly, she gave me the name of a trustworthy shop to call for help. I limped to a Motel 6 for the night and called for a tow in the morning. I had no idea of the seriousness that awful noise.

It is a small production to carry to the third floor: two cats, cat food and water dishes, a litter box, ice chest, plus whatever regular overnight items a person needs for a motel stay. Both cats immediately vanished under the bed. You would think that would be an inaccessible place because of the platform? No. It was pulled away from the wall, just enough to allow cats to squeeze under. I called the manager to help me rescue them from the dark recesses. Two men came in and helped dismantle the bed. I caught the cats, secured them in the bathroom and they reassembled the bed and secured it to the wall. They did not clean up the Doritos and other debris that had been uncovered during the operation. My advice is to never, ever, look under your bed in a motel. You don't want to know.

I turned on TV to pass the evening, and watched the shocking football game where the young Buffalo player suffered cardiac arrest on the field and the game was suspended.

In the morning a tow truck hauled me, the cats, and my truck to the  independent repair shop my girlfriend recommended. They quickly diagnosed a bad wheel bearing. Since, according to the mechanic, if one front bearing had gone bad, the other would likely follow soon. I had them both replaced. It was very expensive. The office manager gal and the mechanic were both sympathetic to my plight. They went out of their way to get me back on the road quickly. The weather was 70ºF/21ºC and sunny. It was a nice day to relax in the sun as I waited for parts and the repair. This was January 3rd. I had 850 miles/1370 km to go. And I returned to the road with optimism and a big cup of delicious McDonald's coffee. Depending upon how much I needed to sleep, I could be home tomorrow at noon. 

Previously I had arranged for my electric, gas, and water utilities to all be turned back on January 3rd. Therefore I could look forward to heat, and light, and if it was daylight, I could find my water valve and get that going. I didn't want the main turned on until I could be there to check for any leaks. My toilet flush valve was cranky after 10 months of drying. It needed attention so it is a good thing I didn't have the water going into my house or that toilet would've run non-stop. As it turned out, it would have been running for 3 days straight. But I am getting ahead of myself.

My neighbor said my refrigerator did start. So I was pretty confident that everything would be normal when I arrived.

As daylight was fading over the west Texas plains, I felt a peculiar jerk in the truck power. But it went away. Hmm. I wonder what that was? I looked out in the night at the flames off in the distance coming from oil or gas fields. I took a nap in a truck stop in Odessa. It was a cold night. Expected to be in the upper 30ºs (about 4ºC). I continued on in the clear night. Interstate 20 merged into Interstate 10. My house is only about 25 miles/40 km north of Interstate 10 in Arizona. I could feel excitement building! 

According to my map, a large highway rest area lay ahead near Van Horn, Texas. I had driven 480 miles/770 km since I left the afternoon sunshine in Fort Worth. The engine power jerked off and on again. What was this? I definitely aimed for the Rest Area to park, use the rest room, and pray about this concerning behavior. It was the middle of the night. 

As I slowed and pulled in to park, the engine totally quit and I rolled into a safe location. I decided to take a nap and try later. But I soon woke up due to the cold. Got out more blankets and tried to snooze again. In this mild part of Texas, they do not have heat in the restrooms. The "throne" is rather icy! Apparently it rarely goes below freezing there.

After some time passed, with temperatures getting frigid, I cranked the engine and it started. I put the heater on immediately! Then I decided to try for the Love's truck stop or someplace where there was heat and food. Pulled out and headed down the ramp back on the highway but the engine died again. There was no restarting it. I had rolled to a stop under a street lamp so I tucked in until daylight when I called for a tow. This was not what I expected to be doing on January 4th. I was cold, but I was safe. I still had some food in the ice chest. Things would work out. The shop in Van Horn would fix me up and I'd be home tonight. How bad could it be? 

Worse than I imagined... to be continued.

Long, Long Trip

It wasn't meant to be long. Like other trips, I planned to drive all, or almost all, the 2300 miles (3700 km) straight through. I don't take chances on the road. I pull over and take a nap when needed. Or get a motel for a night. But I love to drive. I adore long hours on the road. Day or night, fair weather or foul, I love the open road. 

My current and only vehicle is a white truck, a 1999 Ford F-250 Lariat, 4 wheel drive, 7.3 liter diesel. It is one of the best engines ever put into a Ford. I have added a few after-market improvements like a hard plastic tonneau cover over the 8 foot long bed, and an upgraded radio so that my phone connects. It has a compact rear seat that folds down for two cages where my cats, Holly and Stalker comfortably ride.

This would be my 4th cross-continent drive with this set up. I left at 7 AM on New Years Day because I saw it as a light travel day and it was. It seemed rather special that my mileage, as I left my worried sister in the predawn light, was 234,567. Temperature was above freezing. No weather concerns in sight. It was just another enjoyable trip! I didn't look forward to the total cost of the fuel I would be purchasing. Inflation had certainly hit diesel prices very hard, much harder than regular gas. In fact at one station diesel was exactly $2 more per gallon than regular gas. I shake my head.

Across western New York State I traveled, where the week before the Buffalo area had seen historic 4 foot snowfalls. Only shrinking snowdrifts remained. I passed through the corner of Pennsylvania near Lake Erie. I had lived in northern Pennsylvania for 10 years, beginning in the late 1970's. It is a beautiful, mountainous state! I headed away from the Great Lakes plain after Cleveland. Ohio is a large state so it was nearly dark as I eventually passed Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati in southern Ohio. The lights were all on but I realized the football game would be held the following night, when my Buffalo Bills would visit the Cincinnati Bengals in a game which would be cut short by a near cardiac death right on the field.

At night I reduce my speed, especially through the rural areas of Kentucky and Tennessee. I took my short naps as needed and snacked from my ice chest. Eventually the sky lightened and a new day arrived as I drove across the Mississippi River at Memphis and into Arkansas. Every state has natural beauty. But every time I travel through Arkansas, I am reminded that their nickname "The Natural State" is not exaggeration. It has an outstanding, natural landscape. And Hot Springs!

Last February I had a careful drive along Interstate 30 from Dallas to Texarkana due to an ice storm. But 10 months later, going in reverse direction, the road was dry, the weather fairly warm. I managed through the Dallas metro area without too much traffic since January 2nd was the official "Holiday" for New Years since the first was on a Sunday. A lovely long weekend for most people.

Then as I came near Fort Worth, I thought I heard a grinding noise coming from my front right tire or wheel. I pulled off the highway into a shopping center. Something was very amiss. Things proceeded to deteriorate after that.

To be continued...