07-07-09

First thing was to take a shower. I was filthy and too tired to do it the night before.
Then, call Progressive Insurance as I had roadside assistance. The call took about twenty minutes, but they took excellent care of me. At first she wanted to have me towed to Pierre, South Dakota. It was Monday and they wouldn’t be able to work on it until Friday. I pretended like I was in a hurry, even though my future was completely wide open. She found a place that could tow me and work on my problem and the tow would be covered by my insurance. A&R Towing & Recovery was about two hours back the direction I had just come from in Chamberlain, South Dakota, on the Missouri River.
I ate breakfast and waited. I contemplated; To Jeep, or not to Jeep, that’s the question. Should I drive behind, or leave it at the truck stop. I was headed right by it on the way back…hopefully. I gambled and decided to leave it to save the gas money. Hopefully it would be okay.
I wondered, “What sort of tow truck could possibly tow a 35’ motorhome?”
Progressive kept checking in with me on the phone. I also got a call from Bob, the tow truck driver, when he was about 15 minutes away.
It was about 10:30 when I saw my hero pulling off-of the highway. It was a huge blue Western Star semi tow truck. It was an awesome and comforting sight. Bob was a good looking young man with long, rock and roll hair. I watched curiously as he hooked everything up. It took almost 2 hours to get ready to roll. The whole procedure was very interesting to me.
I rode in the cab of “Blue Star” with Bob. He was a very skilled driver, I asked probably too many questions, but was intrigued by everything that surrounded me. I said, “Good thing I have roadside assistance, how much does this cost?” He said, “This is about a thousand dollar tow”.
When we stopped so he could pick up some tires at a shop I asked “Is it cool if I ride in the motorhome while you tow it?” “Sure” he said, so I jumped in the back. There was a warning beep constantly going off as the bus was in neutral and the parking brake was released.
As we pulled-out, a storage compartment on the back of the wrecker swung open wildly. I had his number in my phone from when he called me before, so I called him right away. He stopped, secured the door and I gave him a big thumbs up.
Riding in the bus at 70mph while in tow was interesting to say the least. I ate, went to the bathroom and talked on my phone. I wondered if I it was safe to be up and about. Bob was such a good driver I felt confident we’d be okay. He dragged me back into the central time-zone which unfortunately moved the clock ahead an hour. The ride was 2 hours long. I took the opportunity to chase down thumps and rattles that I never could find while driving. Eventually I fell sound asleep on my bed.
When I woke I looked out the window and saw a sign; Chamberlain 12 Miles. I got up and got ready.
The place was a big machine shed on a gravel lot surrounded by old trucks, cars and tractors like a junk yard. I sat for a long time before anyone did anything. It was a hot afternoon, about 87 degrees. I’d been hearing the warning beep for hours now. I was anxious, but patient. I knew this was not a scheduled appointment, but was worried as it was already about 3:30 central time.
They finally did go to work. It was a very casual atmosphere and I was able to hang out with them while we pondered what went wrong. They didn’t find much wrong. Old antifreeze, perhaps a slipping belt, dirt packed in the radiator. They blew dirt out of the radiator with compressed air. I was inside on my computer when my bedroom smoke detector suddenly started loudly beeping. I went back to silence it thinking it was from work they were doing in the shop, but found the bedroom was engulfed in a cloud of dirt. The engine is under the bed and we left the bed and hatch tilted up from when they were looking in there before. I silenced the alarm, closed the hatch, turned on the bedside fan and turned the roof fan to blow out on high. There was no harm done and we had a good laugh.
They worked until about 6:30, and then called it quits. I’d have to wait until tomorrow morning for them to work more.
I was happy to stay there, they had a 30 amp electrical hook-up, it was level and quiet. I had a weak, but functional internet signal, good phone signal, 8 TV channels and my entire home.
I noticed that the malfunctioning step was making an electric, servo type clicking. I tried to disable it by turning it off. That didn’t work, so I pulled the fuse. That didn’t work either.
I snuck out and tried to find a hose faucet to fill my water holding tank in the cover of darkness, but found nothing.
I talked to Trinity in New Hampshire late into the night. I’m drawn to her lately so much that I joked that I’m trying to go west, but I’m literally being dragged east.
I drifted to sleep to the sound of my step clicking; click click, click, click click, click.