SilverLining in Car Trouble

Bessy is holding up like a champ!..for the most part.

I have covered over 6000 miles since I got her (for $1700, mind you!)

However, I spent yesterday with a mechanic in the little Texas town of Claude, and here is how it went down:

8/17 - I had covered so many miles that day! A morning of Arizona, quickly into New Mexico, where I picked up a Navajo hitchhiker. Spent a little time in Albuquerque, and then continued on towards Texas. The miles were flying by, and what I have learned is that when they are flying, let them. As the sun went down I was just passing through the city of Amarillo, TX and my car started going funky.

The "check battery" light came on. "OH NO...maybe it's a false positive".

Ten minutes later, the radio dies.

I start to take the warning seriously so I start looking for a place to pull over for the night. Just as I pass through some small town outside Amarillo, my headlights blink out and my dash info starts to flicker. I quick pull over and park in the back of some motel. I turn the car off and think "this car probably won't turn back on...but that's tomorrows problem". I read for a little while and then fell asleep in the back of Bessy in the La Motel parking lot.

8/18 - I awake at 6am to a foggy Texas morning. I would have slept in, but I immediately remember the state that I left Bessy in the night before, so I am anxious to try starting her and see what the day might have in store for me. I turn the key...and Bessy starts! "Maybe she just was tired from a long day of driving" I think.

Wrong. Within 5 minutes of driving down the road, I try to turn on the head lights and they flick back off, and everything starts to shut down. I manage to get to a median, but then the engine dies and will not start.

I quick call my dad (as I generally do in such circumstance), but it is pretty obvious I need to get to a mechanic and a jump seems the cheapest option. 10 minutes of waving to the few early morning drivers that pass on the rural texas highway yields two nice ladies, one without jumper cables, and one with!

After a quick jump, I head back towards the little town. With my good-Samaritan lady friend safely driven off, Bessy dies again. This time, I just make it to the shoulder, and now the morning fog sets in. It is so thick I lose hope of waving down a car so that they have time to stop, and I even call 911 fearing that someone will come out of the mist and hit Bessy. 911 says all they can do is call a tow truck (which will cost) and I tell them to save it. I put on my shoes and run for town. Along the way I knock on a few doors, but can't seem to find a person. Then I run into an old man doing some landscaping. I tell him my troubles and he quick hops in the car with me! Aged with experience the guy has a multitude of battery charging and jumpstarting devices in his car. he thinks its my alternator so he charges my battery enough that I can get to the mechanic in town, and then sends me off as I spout many thanks to him and his. He just smiles knowingly and waves, I think half expecting me to die halfway to the mechanic again.

By some miracle I arrive at Keith's Service Center before 8am. We quickly deduce that the Alternator needs replacing and I have the choice to pout about my bad luck and what it will cost me to fix the thing, or try to see this as a reason to spend the day getting a feel for what a small town in texas is like. I spend the next few hours offering assistance around the shop, questioning the mechanics and other customers about the area, and occasionally sneaking away to read a bit or do some calisthenics. By noon I have determined that the only place to go to lunch is Mighty's burger joint. I do not claim to be a vegetarian, because it doesn't take much for me to put my ideals on hold and eat a good burger. Part of me believes it was local anyway, because don't they have lots of cattle in TX? Anyway, it was a great burger, and lunch at Mighty's served to give me another look into the daily life and community in a small texas town.

I return to the auto shop and assist one of Keith's lackeys in cleaning bricks with a hammer and chisel. My car is finally done at about 4pm. It was a BUSY day at the shop and I saw many people come and go, many tires repaired and replaced. When I go to pay, I had planned to try and bargain the price down based on the amount of time it took, my help around the shop, whatever I can. Keith assures me that he is only going to charge for the new alternator and 1.5hours of labor. This is already a great deal and he even throws in an oil change, which I badly needed after all the miles I have been putting on Bessy.

At 5pm, I am flying south East towards Austin. My confidence has been totally restored in Bessy and she purs along eating the miles away as I complement all that I saw and felt in a small town called Claude.

the end...of another day on the road!