|
Genevieve |
||||
| Waking | Sleeping | Sign | Repose | Wish | |
| The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam... | |||||
Return from Pennsic: The Revenge of the Cursed Trailer
2003-08-19 - 11:59 p.m.Amazingly, we started breaking down camp on Saturday of the last Pennsic weekend around 7 or 8 in the morning, and were completed by 12:30pm. 4-5 hours to break camp and clean up, we were counting our lucky stars. Everybody pitched in and did a lion's share of work and we pulled away from our annual pilgramage to PA with packed trucks and trailer and met with camp mates in Cranberry for a steak lunch before the drive home. The drive normally takes about 5 hours, we were set to be home around 7pm that night. I should have known it couldn't possibly be that easy.
As we pull out from the Lone Star, I'm following Alan who is driving Rhett (his F-150) pulling the trailer. After not being on the road long, I notice that the trailer's right wheel is wobbling and bouncing something severely, thus worrying me behind in Scarlett. I should point out that on my return trip to Pennsic I had left my cell phone behind, so it was not so simple as to call Alan and warn him, we had to pull over and take a look. The right tire, as it would turn out, was completely deformed. We pull into the next rest area on the Turnpike to take a closer and safer look. The tire is bulging in at one point and out at the bottom. The tire is extremely hot to the touch, more so than the left tire, and it is wearing unevenly. Worry, frown. We decide to add a bit of air to the tire to perhaps maybe ensure a smoother ride. Perhaps this was the biggest mistake to make. Perhaps this only let us limp a bit longer. There is no way to discern for certain.
We pull out from the rest station and the trailer seems to be riding a bit smoother. There is less bouncing and the tire appears to be a more normal shape, but it is hard to tell at 60 mph. Alan and I decided it was wise to take the trip a bit slower due to our worries about the tire. We truck on along for a bit more with hopes that nothing will go wrong. As it turns out, nothing could be further from the truth.
Just past exit 67, 8 miles west of New Stanton PA, said deformed tire on the trailer performs a complete and utter blow out. Holy Jebus! Chunks of rubber are flying everywhere, mainly in my and Scarlett's direction, and with Hazard lights a'flashing and horn a'honking, we manage to get to the shoulder and to safety, more or less. We think we are okay. There is a spare and we'll just use the jack from Rhett to change the tire. No go. Rhett's jack won't fit under the axel and as it is designed for new truck, it doesn't have a spot on the wheel to connect to either. We toy with the idea of using Scarlett's and Rhett's jacks together to achieve tire changage, but decide that perhaps is not the safest course of action. We call GEICO roadside assitance that comes with our car insurance. We have hopes and dreams of rescue. We are once again, dissappointed. First the trailer is not covered, just the truck. But they can call Turnpike assistance for us. The first one they call is out of our area despite giving them specifics of our location. We wait and wait, pull out the director's chairs from the truck and sit, and wait.
At this time it is perhaps of some note to mention that my bladder decided to be completely uncooperative thanks to too much Diet Coke I imagine. As soon as we are stranded and can't move, that's when I have to use the restroom. This first stop, I look around for a safe place with fast food napkin in hand, and find no such relief. I finally suck up all pride, hop over the fence into the residential area by the turnpike, and go up to a house to request to use their potty. Oh the shame, but I return much happier.
Finally after resting and waiting quite a bit, I decided that since we are so close to Exit 67, I could walk up the ramp to visit the toll booth to see if they can help us. First I get scolded for my walk, despite my safety measures of walking on the grass. But thankfully they call a tow truck for me and give me a ride back to the cursed trailer. Much to our relief and validation that we aren't completely stupid, the tow truck driver couldn't get his jack to work either. Luckily for us, he is an ingenius sort, and he backs up his truck with the electronic lift bar and, after Alan got out of the way, he slid it under the back corner of the trailer and lifted it that way to take off the old shredded tire and replace it with the spare. After putting on the spare, he eyes it warily and wishes us great luck to get 30 miles down the road to the next garage, although he doesn't seem very positive about it. The spare has cracks in the walls from sun exposure from riding on the tongue of the cursed trailer for the past 3-4 years, it is dry rotted, and we pull off after the replacement with blown tire tossed in the trailer.
I am reminded of the music playing in the tow truck on the way back to our wreck. Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer.
Oh... half way there...
oh-o... living on a prayer
take my hand and we'll make it I swear
oh-o... Living on a prayer..
the saddest part is that we weren't even half way yet. Not by a long shot.I can go no further without saying Thank you! BdeB, Kimmie and Fritz for stopping to help even though there was nothing you could do. I know it delayed your trip home, and we are most grateful for the moral support if nothing else.We seem to make it to Somerset in mostly fine, if wary, condition and find the garage that the Tow Truck Driver suggested. The spare has amazingly lasted 30 miles, and we are grateful for its integrity thus far. Sadly, the garage we stop at doesn't have that size tire available. And here I thought Ranger tires were selected for the trailer because of ease and availability. At this point as we are facing another 30 miles on the suspicious spare, I bring up the idea of trying my spare tire. Two problems. It's not the right size, too big, the trailer would be more lopsided than it already was and we didn't need to introduce another variable into this already f'd up equation. The second problem is that the storage place for a part of my jack and tools to retrieve the spare are under approximately 300 or more pounds of canvas. So, no dice, I use the restroom and we face 30 more miles of limping on the spare.
Little did we know that those next 30 miles contain the tunnel (send prayers upward), lane shifts and uneven asphalt, and last but not least, construction for 12 miles with no shoulder but the occasional emergency pull off. Can you say tense? Can you say ball of stress behind the wheel? Did you know it rained for part of that 30 mile trip as well? 10 miles from our destination I see small pieces of rubber flying up from the trailer wheels. I pray that Rhett has run over some small bits of retread on the road and it is not ours. 10 miles of wincing at every single piece of black rubber hurtling my way. 10 miles of prayer and white knuckles. Finally, as I see our exit less than a mile away, the sad spare finally goes out with great glory. We see the emergency pull off with the exit only a 1/4 mile in sight, but pull off just shy of it. The spare is completely shredded and melted, the rim is rusted and thoroughly bent, and darkness is falling.
We decide that GEICO roadside assistance is worthless and don't even bother calling them again. I get back in Scarlett and leave my sweetie on the side of the road with flashers going to head to the garage 2 miles away for some assistance. SAC's garage in Bedford is full of saints, of that I am certain. (yeah, I giggled at the name too.) They listen to my tale of woe and not much intrigue. They let me call Alan to get the tire size. They promise that while busy, they'll run out there to him and fix him right up, assuming nothing major gets in the way. I opt to stay at the garage, close to a potty, get a snack, and read a bit, after calling up Rob and Wen to rant over the pay phone for a short while.
One of the good things about this stop at SAC's is that I gained perspective. All of our problems thus far were with the trailer. While it contained all the common stuff and our new water heater, if I needed to, we could just leave it on the side of the road. The poor gentleman who came in after me was not as lucky as I. He was towing a U-haul trailer with his V6 Explorer and he had blown the front seal on his transmission. He was enroute from Florida to Montana to start a new job. His wife was already in Montana waiting for him. He was alone and completely stranded in the wilds of PA. I conceeded the most miserable title to him.
After the boys from SAC's got Alan all fixed up, another roadside service charge, and a fee for a new tire, he and I met back up at the Midway service plaza for a break, some food and to plan the rest of our trip. I confess to just wanting to be home, desperately. We choose to forgo a hotel in Breezewood, and hope to be home around midnight. Had everything gone as planned from then on out our trip would have only doubled, from the estimated 5 hours to 10. As we have learned, nothing goes as planned. Once we are off the Turnpike and on 70 homeward bound, we run into another problem. All the lights and the other electronic parts of Rhett start to fail. Alan is going a bit with no lights, and the CD cuts off, and eventually he pulls over to the side of the road again but this time we do not have hazard lights. We think though, that at least it is the truck this time and not the trailer, so therefore GEICO should cover us this time. We call roadside assistance, and let them know what's happened. Once again, they deployed someone who is out of the area we are at, despite clear directions to our location. We wait. We try to start Rhett, click click click. Right now Scarlett is behind Rhett with hazards and fog lights on so that traffic can see that there is another vehicle in front of her. We wait. I have to pee again, but this time is is dark and there is tree cover around. After waiting for almost an hour and half we decide to be brave and attempt to jump start Rhett. In order to do this we first disconnect the cursed trailer from Rhett assuming that it has something to do with draining his battery. Then I pull Scarlett out and make a U-turn on 70 Eastbound, and we end up nose to nose for a jump. Mind you, it has started pouring buckets at this point, but we had to try since we were in position. The roadside assistance folks said a jump wouldn't help us. But it did... We get Rhett going thankfully!, Scarlett backs up so that Rhett can get out and around for me to see and pull another U-turn to right Scarlett and we get on the road homeward bound around 12:30am. This time though, since we have disconnected the eletrical system of lights on the trailer, Rhett is in lead again, but Scarlett serves as the trailer's taillights. But those of you who have made the trek before know of the hills and valleys this stretch of 70 offers. Alan determined that anything over 2200 RPM caused the battery light to come on and stuff to start failing again. We finally admit defeat and pull off in Hagerstown for a hotel and a good night's sleep around 1am. It was a smoking room, but at that point, we just didn't care.
It is about this time that I am wondering what I did that was so wrong? What did I do to deserve this bad Karma? Was I unknowingly mean to someone? Did I run over a baby bunny when not paying attention? Did I give a man a fish instead of teaching him how? What did I do?!?!?!
We awake the next day and Alan goes out to test the truck while I get my first real shower in a week and a half. He is still wary of Rhett's performance on those hills. While we were not willing to have Wendy and Rob come out and help us in the rain around midnight, we decided that in the daylight in a flat parking lot was a good time to switch the trailer to their suburban, Gray. This was much preferrable to a rainy side of the road, or to a possible hilly side of the road if we attempted and failed. Alan and I have breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (mainly because they take plastic and I felt some need to retain cash for another possible roadside assistance call) and we get back to the vehicles in the parking lot just as our heroes arrive.
We all begin the manuvering of the vehicles and the cross loading of stuff from Rhett to Gray (to lessen his load further) and getting the trailer hooked onto Gray. Thank Goodness Rob and Wendy are good and efficient and had unloaded all of their Pennsic stuff as soon as they got home, so that there was room for the heavy stuff from Rhett. While they fiddle with trailer hook up, I get out the duck tape to tape the wires for the brake lights out of the way. They had already drained one truck, Rob and Wen weren't risking it. Since I have the duck tape in hand, I decide to properly label the trailer. Since "Danger! Trailer Sux, No Lights" would have been too long, I settle for writing in Duck Tape on the doors "WARNING" and a sad face. We of course have to jump start Rhett once more before getting on the road, and I have to use the bathroom first. sigh...
We get back on the road with a caravan of three this time. Rhett in the lead, as the limping truck whose speed determined ours. Gray is in the middle towing the trailer with no lights, but an adequate warning label. Scarlett pulls up the rear once again acting as the cursed trailer's taillights. Rob and Wendy are also smart. They give me Rob's cell phone so that each truck has one. Perhaps the power of 3 set us free. Perhaps being a tripod is the most stable structure. Perhaps Rob and Wendy had built up some really good Karma. Whatever it was, we got home in one shot that time, no more stops on the side of the road.
We arrive home 24 hours after leaving Pennsic. Let me reiterate, the normal 5 hour trip took 24 hours with the cursed trailer. I guess since I'm already wallowing in self pity it is somewhat important to mention that I've had a pinched nerve in my neck since Wed of war week that prevented me from being able to look over my shoulder and stuff. This only made the loading, driving and unloading that much more special.
At this point we are done-done. Rob backs the trailer into our driveway and we unload massively fast. We order a pizza. We cross load some stuff back in Gray for his owners and we unload the other trucks except for the 16x20 canvas and Colin's canvas from Scarlett. Deciding that we were so done-done that we wanted nothing to do with the trailer anymore, I decided on a course of action that would rid us of the trailer as soon as possible. We call up the owners and tell them we are delivering the trailer back now, and we get on the road. Alan remains home to deal with a fish tank with 3 dead fish. Once again Gray is pulling the trailer with Scarlett as the taillights. We drop some of their stuff off at their home as well as Wendy so she can do laundry, and Rob and I get on the beltway.
We reach our destination, and of course a car is parked where we wish to deposit the trailer. So, I bow to Rob's massive trailer backing up skills and he gets the trailer in a safe little grassy spot on the first try with a few adjustments on the way. The owner asks about the tape on the back and gets the short version as we unload canvas into the garage and then get back on the road. I get to remind myself what it is like to drive free, without the hazard lights on the entire time. When I get home I gas her up, run Scarlett thru the carwash and get a McFlurry for myself. I polish off the evening with Apple Jacks cereal for dinner and ice cream that Wendy had made from the Cooper's Chocolate Milk she had brought home. Yummm....
Thankfully now we are mostly caught up. 80% of our stuff is cleaned and put away. 10 loads of laundry have been done and only two remaining items need special cleaning. There are still some bits of stuff in baskets and such that need returning to their spot, but all in all not bad. We only had 3 fish die in the 70 gallon tank, and no losses from the pond or the other tank. We got our pile of mail delivered yesterday. Alan dropped his truck off to have the battery replaced, oil changed, tires rotated, and the eletrical system inspected. The best guess is that the light system on the trailer wasn't wired exactly right, especially the ground wire so it probably slowly drained Rhett's battery during the two weeks they were hooked up and during the road stops and long use of hazard lights during those times. It's just a guess from our resident electrical engineer. But I took Alan out for a chiropractor visit and dinner at Outback on his real birthday last night.
Luckily for me my Pennsic was quite lovely and I had a great time from small stints at chasing a Princess, to shopping for string, to watching the OC 25 year tourney, to chillin' in camp and laughing heartily, to even the sodden but fun Scotch tasting party, and doing laundry with Theo and meeting up with Emma and Nia. I had a great time, but I think I need a vacation from the return from my vacation.
Addendum:
$80 of roadside assistance
$70 for new tire for trailer
$50 for gas and food
$100 for last minute hotel room
$600 for new battery, alternator, eletrical system inspection, tires rotated, oil changed, and labor
Getting home from Pennsic-- Priceless!
www.flickr.com
| Host | Profile | Share Me |
| SCA Diary Ring | |||||
|