The Adventure Begins.........The Road Hits Back continues......

The Adventure Begins

I called Dave back just to let him know I had help coming. Then I got off the phone because at this point my battery was getting low. Here's where another note to self came in........Don't make a long road trip without a charger for the cell phone that works off the cigarette lighter. The last thing I needed was to be stranded without that resource.

Shortly after I got a call from the driver who would be assisting me. He wanted to go over the details about my location and what kind of issues I was having with my truck. Before we got off the phone he told me it would be at least another half hour before he was able to reach me.

Sitting there in the darkness watching the speeding traffic fly by I couldn't help but wonder if this trip was truly jinxed. It was now getting close to midnight and I hadn't even left the state of Oregon yet. The majority of my trip to Jesse's still lay before me and I'd already gone through an entire day.

I also couldn't help but think back to that man who'd been asking for help at the last rest stop. I wondered if he'd really needed help and if so if he'd gotten it. I had intended to give him $10 towards the sum he needed before I'd left but I hadn't seen him anywhere around so I'd gotten in my truck and left. Now I wondered if karma was catching up with me.

I was jarred from these thoughts by some kind of thump on my truck. The sound threw me into an intense defensive mode. What was this? and What do I do know? raced through my brain as I scrambled to ascertain what was going. At this point a flashlight shined in my truck and my imagination was about to take off on some wild trek when the possibility this could be the help I was awaiting flickered through. I took a deep breath trying to see past that light while hoping this was not another weird turn in this adventure.

Thankfully this intrusion was indeed the mechanic who had come to help. While introducing himself by shining a flashlight into my truck hadn't been the most safety conscious I could think of, I was glad to see him. Hopefully I would be back on the road soon.

The horses weren't particularly glad to see him, however. As he jacking up the horse trailer, they began to protest. I guess standing on this steep grade was putting lots of stress on them. Then the added pressure of dumping their weight to their front legs didn't sit well. Kicking and screaming it was clear they didn't like much about this situation and the resulting rocking of the horse trailer was a concern. I needed to calm the horses but I was still trying to dig out the spare.

The mechanic had arrived with a lady friend. It was clear they were a couple but I never did know the extent of their relationship. But with the horses rocking and rolling in the horse trailer, I was glad for the extra help. She jumped into to assist getting my trailer unpacked enough we could reach that spare.

When we finally did have the spare exposed, there was horse paraphernalia spread all over that shoulder. It's amazing how much stuff it takes for horses at a show and right now I was really wishing I had less than half of it. At least the rain had let up for the moment I could just see myself trying to figure out a way to dry soggy blankets and hoods.

Even with everything moved out of the way, the horse trailer still would not relinquish the spare. The wing nut that was holding my spare in place up against the tack room wall was locked up tight. Both of us women took our turns with it trying to break that thing free.

Even when the mechanic stepped in the darn thing wouldn't budge. He had to drop what he'd been doing to find a tool to speed this process along. The horses seemed to sense the disruption and again voiced their disapproval. Watching that trailer sway precariously on that big hydraulic jack because of the steep grade made my stomach tighten. I'd be glad when this part of my adventure was over.

I talked to the horses trying to calm them. Gypcy seemed to be the one least soothed and unfortunately she was the one with her butt right over the hydraulic jack. Her kicking and scrambling was making even the mechanic nervous.......and he'd had lots of experience changing flats on loaded horse trailers.

Once the tire was changed and the trailer sitting safely back on the ground on all its tires, we moved onto the issue of the truck. The mechanic thought the steam was caused from the added drag caused on this steep grade by the heavy trailer on one less tire. He figured the truck was just fine but checked the engine and the radiator just to be safe. Then he and his lady friend followed me to the next rest stop.

Since I was going to need a spare tire before I could proceed on this journey and it was soon going to be Sunday, I was going to have to wait out the night to have any shot at finding a tire place open. They figured my only show would be one of the bigger cities down the road. In the meantime, if anything was really wrong with my truck it would surely show up on the continued climb to the next rest stop. They would make sure I got there safely and that I found what I needed for the horses........water.

To be continued................

The Road Hits Back.......Moving On

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY