Back in college I took a dream New Year’s Eve ski vacation with my girlfriend into the mountains (that seems a bit of an understatement with the Rockies approaching over the next few days) of Pennsylvania. There was only one problem – we never made it to the ski resort. Seems my car decided to break down in the hills (now that’s more like it) of Pennsylvania and wouldn’t go any further without a new alternator (which was impossible to find on New Year’s Eve in the Poconos). Instead of our beautiful ski lodge with a hot tub, my girlfriend and I spent 3 nights at the Viking Inn Motel alongside a truck stop on Route 80 waiting for the holiday to end and the repair shops to reopen the following Monday. Needless to say it wasn’t my favorite vacation of all time.
Flash forward to today – the date is July 4^th 2008 and my assistant Ian is driving me back to the rest area where I ended yesterday’s ride (about 6 miles short of Vernal, Utah). And as we pull onto the dirt shoulder of the road, I look out of the window from the passenger seat – and I notice this HUGE pothole coming our way then BAM!!! – right through the pothole we ride… I half expected to hear our tire explode from the impact, but as we finish the u-turn to get me back to the ride start point I’m relieved that the car seems to have survived the impact.
As is our ritual, Ian jumps out of the car to take my bicycle off of bike carrier – only this time he jumps back into the car and shouts “Dammit – we busted our oil pan. There’s oil everywhere.”
Luckily(?) we’ve already had one engine die this trip from running out of oil so we IMMEDIATELY shut down the engine to make sure we don’t kill another. And as I surveyed the damage, you could see a line of oil where it had all drained out of the car.
Guess what Dog Cancer Ride Across America fans – We’re taking another ride in a Tow Truck!
(I’m thinking of renaming the ride “The Tow Truck Ride Across America” if our luck with cars doesn’t change soon…)
And now for the fun part. How do we get a 1994 Mercury Villager repaired in Vernal, Utah, at 1:00 PM on Friday, July 4^th (the Worst Day of the Year to find an auto mechanic shop open…)? And what’s the reservation number for the Viking Inn? Because it looks like it’s going to be a LOOONG weekend.
After about 45 minutes cursing our bad car luck, the tow truck driver arrives from AAA. A nice guy named Steve. And as he gets out of the truck, I jokingly ask – “So how are you at fixing broken Oil Pans?”
And to my surprise, he responds “Pretty good actually, what seems to be the problem”
Seems Steve was an auto mechanic before he started driving tow trucks, and knew his way around the engine of a car. And even better, after taking a look at the damage, he told us “Your oil pan’s fine – majorly dented but fine – the problem is your oil filter, that’s been smashed to bits… And you’re lucky you turned the car off right away – I think you saved the engine.”
Wow. For the first time in weeks it appears we actually had some GOOD car luck. Better still, the Wal-Mart in town (and their oil change/lube center) was open for a few more hours. So after a quick $30 oil change and filter replacement the car was back in business and good as new (we hope) except for the dent in the oil pan and instructions from the center manager to “stay away from potholes”.
Crisis averted – and we’re back on the road again!
The only ramifications, was that by time we got the car fixed and ready to be back on the road it was too late to ride out of town. So we checked into the local KOA campgrounds (with full wi-fi internet service, believe it or not) and enjoyed the town fireworks display from outside our tent.
All in all, this 4^th of July turned out to be a pretty good day.
From the KOA campgrounds in Vernal, Utah, this is Ted Schneck (relieved and ready to ride again) on the Dog Cancer Ride Across America
Bye for now…
…and we’ll see you down the road.
- Ted Schneck
