This is a story about a “chase” in the desert that went from fun to GREAT SCOTT.\u00a0 It all turned out okay, but it was a rough road getting there.<\/p>\n
I suppose that the adventure of April 14, 2016, begins three months earlier, in January, 2016. \u00a0On the Sunday of Martin Luther King holiday weekend, my Xterra broke down halfway from my mom’s place in Palm Desert to my home in Westlake Village.\u00a0 The vehicle was towed to a shop in San Bernardino, where a busted timing belt was replaced.\u00a0 Sometimes a broken timing belt means big-time engine damage, but I got lucky, and the 2002\u00a0Xterra’s engine worked just fine afterwards.\u00a0 These timing belts need to be replaced every 100,000 miles, which I did faithfully when the odometer hit 100,000.\u00a0 But I was lax and stupid when 200,000 miles came around, about two or three years ago.\u00a0 I didn’t bother to replace the timing belt.\u00a0 My odometer this past January read\u00a0about 210,000 miles…but there were actually about 260,000 miles on the Xterra.\u00a0 The speedometer and odometer did not work for most of a two-year period several years ago. \u00a0I figure that I put close to 50,000 miles on the SUV that were not added to the odometer reading. \u00a0Anyway, it is not particularly surprising that the timing belt broke when it did. \u00a0If I had been responsible and prompt a few years ago, then it is doubtful that this day in April would have transpired the way it did, and much consternation and gnashing of teeth would have been avoided.<\/p>\n
With the new timing belt in place, the vehicle’s engine had a new “sound” to it.\u00a0 It was kind of a mild “whirring” sound.\u00a0 It sounded kind of neat, nothing to be concerned about, I figured.\u00a0 The Xterra was functioning just fine, as it always has (except for that one time in January on the freeway in San Bernardino).\u00a0 Now fast-forward to late March, and I am in the wide-open spaces of the Carrizo Plain, about two hours northwest of Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village.\u00a0 My buddy, a mechanic in a former life, is riding with me and he notices the sound from the engine.\u00a0 It doesn’t sound as “neat” as it\u00a0did right after the timing belt was replaced.\u00a0 It is more of a soft “grindy” sound now.\u00a0 Less “whirry” and more “grindy.”\u00a0 He guesses that it may be a\u00a0belt and bearing problem of some sort.\u00a0 With the hood up, he “listens” to the air conditioner compressor as the car is running, and he does not like what he hears.<\/p>\n
The Xterra makes it home and I take it into\u00a0another “Name Withheld Tire Pros” (NWTP) affiliate in Westlake Village (WLV).\u00a0 I let them know that the\u00a0NWTP affiliate\u00a0in San Bernardino replaced my timing belt in January and I immediately heard that new sound, and that my mechanic buddy thought I should get it checked out.\u00a0 The WLV NWTP manager (Robert)\u00a0reports that I require a new air compressor and air-conditioner servicing. \u00a0He says that the compressor is shot due to old age and 260,000 miles.\u00a0 But, this particular NWTP shop in WLV is basically a tires-only place and it does not do engine work.\u00a0\u00a0Robert suggests that I try another nearby repair place, in Thousand Oaks.\u00a0 He provides the phone number to reach the manager, “Gil.”<\/p>\n
At this point I am somewhat relieved that the problem does not appear to be related to the timing belt, as it costs a lot to replace those things and if it breaks, then there might be serious engine damage.\u00a0 I decide to call Gil to see if he can work on the vehicle that day as I will need it the next day to get to work, and I wanted to be done with the problem.\u00a0 I tell Gil the story, he says to come on by, and he orders a replacement compressor.\u00a0 Well, it is NOT the compressor, Gil says an hour or two later.\u00a0 It is the timing belt.\u00a0 It is on and it is on WAY too tightly, and it is causing major stress in the tensioner, a spinny thing with ball bearings, I think, that is adjusted to make sure that the timing belt is not too loose and not too tight.\u00a0 Gil’s place replaces the timing belt that NWTP in San Bernardino installed.\u00a0 And, says Gil, I am lucky that the car did not break down somewhere and that no engine damage occurred.\u00a0 He was also astounded that NWTP in San Bernardino did not replace the fan belt and other belts in the engine in January, as they were cracking.\u00a0 It was not looking like a rip-roaring top-notch timing-belt replacement\u00a0job was accomplished in San Bernardino.<\/p>\n
I paid Gil about 600 dollars that I should not have had to relinquish, but the NWTP manager in San Bernardino and the NWTP warranty center seem to be willing to stand behind their work and to cover this additional expense.\u00a0 We will see, as the wheels of company bureaucracy churn.\u00a0 My Xterra was running fine again.\u00a0 It seemed that that whirring sound was gone for the most part, but it\u00a0DID make a soft\u00a0appearance when the car was at highway speeds and bouncing up and down a bit.\u00a0 It was minor and was\u00a0nothing to be concerned with, I figured!<\/p>\n
My friend, Jennifer, was visiting for a couple of days in mid-April and was eager to explore some California desert areas.\u00a0 She is from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, so desert areas are a bit of a novelty for her.\u00a0 I elected to take her up towards some of my favorite places around Trona and the Panamint Valley.\u00a0 And — good timing — a coolish trough was moving into the state and we might get some wind and dust and wave cloud development.\u00a0 Let the fun begin!<\/p>\n
As we started away from home a little after sunrise, the whirry\/grindy engine sound was apparent again.\u00a0 It wasn’t too loud or annoying or disconcerting.\u00a0 But,\u00a0it was there.\u00a0 Dang, should I stop by Gil’s place and have him take a listen before we head out into the empty expanses?<\/p>\n
Of course I should!<\/p>\n
Did I?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
But I did think about it for 12 seconds.\u00a0 I should get some credit for that, right?<\/p>\n
Jennifer and I reached Trona and later\u00a0the Panamint Valley with some not-entirely-uninteresting wave cloud formations above.\u00a0 It was early afternoon, and it was windy in some spots with a little blowing sand here and there, but this was no major system or dust storm.\u00a0 I decided to visit Ballarat ghost town and to drive up into Pleasant Canyon.\u00a0 The road up into Pleasant Canyon is a rather rough and steep one, but no problem for my 2WD Xterra, at least to a point about halfway up.\u00a0 Eventually the road becomes a little too difficult, and it makes little sense to press your luck with the traction, etc.\u00a0 We hiked a little and took some photographs along the running stream, and then it was time to head back down to Ballarat.\u00a0 My plan was to head back south a little and to be at the Trona Pinnacles for sunset photography.\u00a0 It was about 4 p.m. now.<\/p>\n
As we made our way down the slope and out of the narrow canyon, the Xterra’s engine quit on me.\u00a0 All power was lost as we were coasting down the rough road at 5 to 10 mph.\u00a0 The engine was not overheating at all.\u00a0 It started again and I hit the gas, and NO power whatsoever.\u00a0 The engine stopped running again, and I had to use the emergency brakes as the power brakes were out-to-lunch, too.\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 It looked like I had picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue, as the saying goes. \u00a0We were lucky that the car was heading downhill, and not uphill.\u00a0 I could probably coast into Ballarat.\u00a0 We were lucky that we weren’t well up into Pleasant Canyon when the engine failed.\u00a0 Jennifer and I might\u00a0be walking back to Ballarat!\u00a0 There was no one else coming up and down this road today.\u00a0 We were lucky that it wasn’t 100 degrees or\u00a0hotter out.\u00a0 It was a pleasant 80 degrees.<\/p>\n
But, it wasn’t all wine and roses for us.\u00a0 The vehicle made it\u00a0the last mile or so into Ballarat by coasting and emergency-braking.\u00a0 Ballarat is not a\u00a0REAL ghost town,<\/a> as a lone person makes it his home for most of the year.\u00a0 But it is isolated and\u00a0the services are limited!\u00a0 “Rocky” operates a tiny\u00a0store here,<\/a>\u00a0selling mostly sodas and water and maps and knickknacks.\u00a0 Rocky is pushing 70 years of age, it seems, and he is hunched over,\u00a0 But he is able to get around okay.\u00a0\u00a0Jennifer and I tell him our sad situation.\u00a0 There is no\u00a0cell phone service here.\u00a0 There is no land-line telephone service here.\u00a0 There is no gas station or tow truck.\u00a0 There\u00a0are no accommodations for the traveler, unless you count shade and\u00a0bottled water and a\u00a0map of Death Valley.\u00a0 We need to call AAA for\u00a0tow-truck service.\u00a0\u00a0So,\u00a0we need to get at least halfway to Trona, about 40 minutes away, in order to call for help to come get the Xterra out of here.\u00a0 The nearest tow truck company is in Ridgecrest, west of\u00a0Trona, and about an hour\u00a0distant.\u00a0 I figured that we\u00a0would be stuck in Ridgecrest\u00a0this Thursday night,\u00a0and the vehicle could be serviced the next day, Friday.\u00a0 I\u00a0would need the vehicle to get to work on Saturday.\u00a0 Thank goodness that I had this extra day in-between to get the Xterra fixed…but was it the stupid timing-belt issue again?\u00a0 UGH — I could see dollar bills flying out of my pockets.\u00a0 Not literally, of course.\u00a0 Dollar bills don’t fly.\u00a0\u00a0But they do “waft.”\u00a0 They were wafting out.<\/p>\n Rocky was practically looking for his car keys right after he learned of our plight!\u00a0 He was going to give us a ride to Cellphoneserviceland!\u00a0 What a nice guy!\u00a0 Then another couple in a battered Isuzu SUV said that maybe they could help us out.\u00a0 Wow — we hit the jackpot of nice folks here in Ballarat, population 1.\u00a0 Anthony and his wife were fixin’ to take a drive up nearby Surprise Canyon, the next one north of Pleasant Canyon.\u00a0 But now they were willing to give us a lift.\u00a0 We thanked Rocky for the offer, and Jennifer and I transferred our camera bags and suitcases to the battered Isuzu.\u00a0\u00a0Its back end was filled with recyclable bottles and an ice chest and rags and other junk, er, I mean equipment.\u00a0 The doors would not open from the inside, and there were numerous other issues which were readily apparent, but we all fit inside and all of our stuff fit and we were ready to roll.\u00a0 All we had to do was get to Trona.\u00a0 We could call AAA from there…maybe stay at the one motel there…whatever.\u00a0 “Just get me to Trona,” as the song goes.\u00a0 I think it was a Robert Goulet or Weird Al tune.<\/p>\n Anthony was about 55 years old and wore an old white tank top which was white in a spot or two.\u00a0 He and his wife were very nice.\u00a0 I wish I could recall her name — maybe Jennifer remembers. \u00a0Ballarat is not on the main highway through the Panamint Valley.\u00a0 It is on “the other side” of the dry lake, so we have to motor some 3.5 miles or so along the unpaved road to get to the pavement.\u00a0 Anthony is tooling along at about 45-50 mph, and the road is washboarded in places.\u00a0 Hmmm, it looks like we will make good time, but it seems that the “careening off the road” chances are awfully high right now. \u00a0“Careening” was not part of the plan today.\u00a0 “If you want to careen, then kindly advise me in advance.”\u00a0 If those aren’t some of the lyrics to “Just Get Me To Trona,” then somebody\u00a0dropped the ball.\u00a0 Figuratively.<\/p>\n To\u00a0reach Trona from\u00a0Ballarat, one’s motor vehicle must be able to\u00a0function during the “uphill” parts.\u00a0 I was going to write “one’s vehicle must muster enough muscle to move uphill,” but that sounds contrived.\u00a0 As the Isuzu began the ascent up the windy slope to the pass between the Panamint and Searles\u00a0basins, Anthony was suddenly doing all sorts of contortions and movements.\u00a0\u00a0Mutterings were\u00a0uttered as the vehicle slowed and the lower gears were uitilized and the RPMs increased two-fold, three-fold, uh, too-many fold.\u00a0 We came to a stop in the right lane.\u00a0 “It’ll be all right,” says the wife whose name Jennifer is supposed to remember.\u00a0 “This happens all the time.”\u00a0 The scent of boiling radiator fluid wafted into our respective noses, literally.\u00a0 We were on the wrong side of the pass, in Panamint Valley, in a motor vehicle with an inoperable motor, with no cell phone service.\u00a0 The plans for this day just keep on dis-planning themselves.<\/p>\n Anthony tried starting the vehicle again and again and again.\u00a0 The starter worked, but the engine would not kick in.\u00a0 It was a manual transmission, so we tried push-starting the Isuzu.\u00a0 No luck.\u00a0 Back and forth we pushed it, in the wind, in the dust, in the pleasant 75F temperatures.\u00a0 No luck.\u00a0 We pushed it out of the roadway.\u00a0 Anthony went to work on the engine like his life depended on it, poking at wires and tubes and hoses and other engine stuff.\u00a0 He learned how to fix the engine online, he said.\u00a0 He had done it before.\u00a0 This would be a simple fix.<\/p>\n Four hours later…WAIT A MINUTE!\u00a0 There are other\u00a0tidbits to share during this four-hour period.\u00a0 How DARE I jump ahead for the sake of brevity.<\/p>\n We were not going to die out here, but we might become slightly dessicated.\u00a0 There was ample water in the vehicle and there were passing vehicles with operational motors every 10 or 15 minutes. \u00a0It wasn’t like the middle of the Sahara Desert. \u00a0 Anthony just had to get the Isuzu started and we would shortly be in Cellphoneserviceland USA.\u00a0 And then I could retrieve my Xterra and see the money waft away.\u00a0 Anthony fiddled, figuratively, with the wires and had the wife try to start it.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Over and over again.\u00a0 Consternation ensued. \u00a0Someone came along and stopped to see if we needed assistance.\u00a0 We said we thought we could get it going again, maybe it just needed to cool down or something.\u00a0 You are going the wrong direction for us, anyway.\u00a0 Thanks for stopping.\u00a0 Buh bye.<\/p>\n I decided to take some inventory of my belongings.\u00a0 Jennifer and I had transferred all of our bags from the Xterra to the Isuzu at Ballarat.\u00a0 My two camera bags and my little bag of clothes were accounted for, but the camcorder bag was not.\u00a0 What the heck?\u00a0 I thought for sure that I had gotten all of the valuables out of the Xterra.\u00a0 I had taken the two camera bags out, walked them over to the Isuzu, about 20 yards away, and put them on the ground for the Isuzu couple to put in the car. \u00a0Didn’t I do the same with the camcorder bag?\u00a0 Is the camcorder bag still sitting on the ground by the store at Ballarat?\u00a0 I can’t believe this!!<\/p>\n The back of the Isuzu was a mishmash of junk, as noted above.\u00a0 I looked under everything, and no camcorder bag.\u00a0 My other two camera bags were in the back seat, safe and sound.\u00a0 There were no other hiding places for the camcorder bag.\u00a0 I was really getting a sick feeling.\u00a0 In the bag was a new 4K camcorder that I was\u00a0going to use this spring during the chase season. \u00a0 If that camcorder is gone forever, then I am going to have to envisage a good sum of money flying or wafting out of my pockets, right behind the money flying or wafting out for the vehicle issues and towing expenses and possible car rental expenses and tips for the desert helpers and the Zingers at the convenience store later for dinner.\u00a0 Where will it all end?\u00a0 Why is this day being so not good now?<\/p>\n I leaned over the engine again in my turmoil.\u00a0 My mind was going over and over and over again with what could have possibly happened to the camcorder.\u00a0 I didn’t care about the Xterra much.\u00a0 It is 14 years old and ready to be replaced.\u00a0 But, geez Louise.\u00a0 These nice desert helpers\u00a0who got us almost halfway to Trona\u00a0could not have possibly hidden it somewhere.\u00a0 Jennifer had her two bags.\u00a0 The camcorder bag had to be on the ground back in Ballarat, or inside of the Xterra.\u00a0 I prayed that it was in the Xterra.<\/p>\n Anthony was looking at a broken water hose now.\u00a0 I poured water in the radiator, liter after liter, and it never filled up.\u00a0 He found the leaky hose and was wondering how we should fix it.\u00a0 The wind was blowing dust around and the sun was setting.\u00a0 Anthony was under the vehicle half the time, trying to figure stuff out.\u00a0 The white spots on his white shirt were getting really dirty.<\/p>\n An elderly couple drove up in a large, old SUV and stopped.\u00a0 I told them the story, and the lady driver said that her husband was a mechanic.\u00a0 He got out and came over to look.\u00a0 He was about 90 years old.\u00a0 Anthony explained what he was doing, and the old guy just nodded.\u00a0 We were trying to get the repaired hose attached again.\u00a0 The couple were headed to Ballarat, with ice cream and cake, for Rocky’s birthday.\u00a0 Today was Rocky’s birthday — YAY!\u00a0 April 14!\u00a0 And these fine folks were really willing to help us out.\u00a0 While the old guy watched the engine and Anthony and I watched the old guy, the old gal took Jennifer towards Trona to find a cell phone signal.\u00a0 Finally —- things were going in the right direction again.\u00a0 The old gal said to keep an eye on the old guy as he had some dementia.\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n While the two gals were gone, we got the water hose attached, and now we were fixing wires to the fuel pump because there wasn’t any fuel getting to the carburetor.\u00a0 Anthony poured a big jug of fuel into the gas tank just in case.\u00a0 The fuel gage said 1\/4, but who can trust those things?\u00a0\u00a0Some wires were badly frayed, and the old guy was preparing new wires as replacements.\u00a0 I think it is a good thing that this vehicle did not start a trip up Surprise Canyon.\u00a0 Another vehicle stopped.\u00a0 Several young guys were headed to Ballarat, and they wondered if we required help.\u00a0 Of course we do!\u00a0 But it seemed like we had everything under control.\u00a0 We had sent two ladies towards Trona for help, but thank you very much for stopping!\u00a0 And by the way, if you see a black camcorder bag on the ground at Ballarat, please give it to Rocky for safe keeping!\u00a0 Yes, I really did say that to them.\u00a0 They seemed like fine, upstanding folk of strong moral character.<\/p>\n It was dark now, and Jennifer and the old SUV returned, about 90 minutes after departure.\u00a0 Jennifer had finally gotten through to AAA after trying each of three cell phones several times.\u00a0 “I had a strong signal, but just could not get through for the longest time,” Jennifer said.\u00a0\u00a0 Jennifer told the operator that we needed a tow from Ballarat.\u00a0 She didn’t have her AAA card on her, but she had mine in her hand.\u00a0 The AAA lady found Jennifer’s AAA info and used that.\u00a0 “What kind of vehicle needed towing?” the AAA lady asked.\u00a0 “An Xterra,” said Jennifer.\u00a0\u00a0 What’s wrong with the vehicle?\u00a0 It won’t go anywhere now.\u00a0\u00a0Where is it?\u00a0 It is in Ballarat.\u00a0 What are the cross streets?\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 What are the latitude and longitude?\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 Where are you?\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 What county?\u00a0 I don’t know — it is in Ballarat.\u00a0 I can’t find Ballarat.\u00a0 Well, it’s a place.\u00a0 Or used to be a place.\u00a0 Look in the Panamint Valley.<\/p>\n So that is how that went between Jennifer and the AAA lady, somewhere between Trona and the Isuzu’s possible last resting place.\u00a0 Eventually the AAA lady determined the location of Ballarat, and she called the towing company in Ridgecrest to come rescue us and the Xterra. \u00a0He would be there in about an hour.<\/p>\n Jennifer related that the drive with the old lady was somewhat of an experience, as she was on the wrong side of the road for extended periods.\u00a0 Well,\u00a0the way this day was going, there was no reason to expect that the unexpected was suddenly going to\u00a0cease.<\/p>\n The only way the tow truck guy was going to get to Ballarat was via Trona.\u00a0 We would see him as he passed by.\u00a0 Jennifer and I put our bags in the old folks’ old SUV, and the old folks would take us to Ballarat.\u00a0 In the meantime, we were still working on the Isuzu.\u00a0 I was holding a flashlight on the engine so Anthony could mess with the wires to the fuel pump.\u00a0 The old guy looked on.\u00a0 Honestly, I had little hope that this Isuzu would be running anytime soon.<\/p>\n Another vehicle drove up and stopped.\u00a0 It was Rocky!\u00a0 Birthday-boy Rocky!\u00a0 He had learned from the young guys of strong moral character that a vehicle had broken down, and he thought it might be his old friends who were overdue.\u00a0 Rocky broke open a case of water for everyone, and we had our fill of water.\u00a0 He got some tools out and a flashlight and went right to work, hunched over the engine without even hunching much.\u00a0 The old folks told him that his birthday ice cream was melting, but these things happen.\u00a0 No biggie.\u00a0 There is a broken-down Isuzu to tend to.\u00a0 I nervously asked Rocky if he had noticed a black camcorder bag near the store at Ballarat.\u00a0 “No, sorry,” he said.\u00a0 DRAT.<\/p>\n I kept looking up the road along the hill for the tow truck as I held the flashlight on the engine.\u00a0 Finally it arrived, and I made sure the driver stopped.\u00a0 I asked him if he was headed to Ballarat to get an Xterra.\u00a0 “Yep!”\u00a0 “Well, that’s my vehicle,” I said.\u00a0 Jennifer rode with the tow truck driver, and I hustled into the old folks’ SUV.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The tow truck would follow us to Ballarat.\u00a0 We would be back through here again in an hour or so to see if the Isuzu folks still needed help.<\/p>\n I was in the back seat, with a little dog behind me, with a ton of luggage and junk and other possible non-junk stuff.\u00a0 Somewhere in here was some melting ice cream.\u00a0 It was about 15 minutes to the dirt road to Ballarat, which goes across the dry lake.\u00a0 The driving by the old lady was decent, with zero head-on collisions. \u00a0We got onto the 3.5-mile stretch on the unpaved portion, and the lady was going about 12 mph.\u00a0 Ugh — this is going to take all day!\u00a0 I mean all night!\u00a0 She was talking about how she lived up in\u00a0Surprise Canyon for quite a while, she provided Rocky’s life history, she told me about living in Noble and Norman in Oklahoma, and talked about the old guy’s time in Vietnam, where he was shot several times, had to jump from a cliff into some water to escape certain death, stuff like that.\u00a0 And, Jennifer had told her that I chased tornadoes, so she wanted to talk about that.\u00a0 Everybody\u00a0from Oklahoma\u00a0has a tornado tale to tell, right?!<\/p>\n She had plenty of time to share stories, as she kept braking.\u00a0 She would get up to 12 mph, and the brake down to 5 mph.\u00a0 Over and over and over again. \u00a0Anthony was doing about 50 mph on this road earlier in the day, and now I was getting a warm and fuzzy feeling when she got it up to 11 mph. \u00a0It was a good dirt road, but she hated it because it was so bumpy.\u00a0 We kept going down to 5 mph.\u00a0 I could not take it anymore, but I had to.\u00a0 What were Jeremy, the tow truck driver, and Jennifer thinking?\u00a0 Would we ever get to Ballarat at this pace?<\/p>\n We made it.\u00a0 I got out and looked around for the camcorder bag, but it was not there.\u00a0 It was not inside of the Xterra.\u00a0 I felt sick inside.\u00a0 We looked inside of the store, and around the store, and in another vehicle that was parked nearby.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 Sick.<\/p>\n Jeremy pulled the Xterra onto the flatbed and we were ready to roll.\u00a0 We tried to tip the old folks with some cash, but they refused.\u00a0 They said to “pay it back” by helping someone else.\u00a0 They are really super people!\u00a0 We went about 12 mph on the dirt road, back to the pavement of the main highway.\u00a0 It was close to 10 p.m.\u00a0 I had a decision to make.\u00a0 We could take the Xterra to Ridgecrest, where we would stay overnight and have the car looked at tomorrow.\u00a0 Or, we could use all or most\u00a0of the “free” 200 miles of towing that is allowed on Jennifer’s premium AAA plan! \u00a0I lived pretty close to 200 miles from Ballarat, so maybe we should consider that.\u00a0 It takes me close to 3 hours to drive from home to Trona, so figure 180 miles for that, and then another 35 miles from there to Ballarat, so it was close.\u00a0 If we went over the 200 miles, then it was 8 dollars per mile.\u00a0 Jennifer liked the idea of going back home, and I liked the idea of getting the Xterra back at Gil’s repair shop in Thousand Oaks.\u00a0 If my timing belt was the problem again, then that was the best place for it, I figured.\u00a0 Okay, let’s do it!\u00a0 Keep on trucking to T.O!<\/p>\n We passed the spot where the Isuzu had broken down —- it was empty!\u00a0 Cool!\u00a0 But I wish we could have stopped and thanked those folks again.\u00a0 I was thinking that\u00a0one of the vehicles that we had passed about five minutes prior, going the other direction, might be Rocky’s, and it probably was. \u00a0Do you believe in miracles?<\/p>\n A major part of the original plan on this day was to find a TV screen during the evening, perhaps in Ridgecrest, to watch the Kings and Sharks first playoff game.\u00a0 That plan had fallen apart faster than Anthony’s engine parts.\u00a0\u00a0Once we neared\u00a0Trona, I was getting a cell signal again, finally.\u00a0 I\u00a0checked the score, and the Sharks were ahead by one\u00a0goal, with just\u00a0two minutes to play.\u00a0 DARN again!\u00a0 I was able to listen to the last two minutes on iHeart radio, and the Kings had numerous chances to tie, but could not.\u00a0 The Kings lost. \u00a0This day was just not going my way.<\/p>\n Jeremy shared a lot of details about his wife and kids, his divorce, his gambling winnings, his towing career, his kids’ problems, his custody battles with the Indians because his wife is from the tribe at Lone Pine so his kids are half Native American and the kids have to remain on the reservation because of the law made in the 1800s but it doesn’t really apply in this case yadda yadda yadda.\u00a0 This was a very sad life experience.\u00a0 We stopped in Mojave briefly, and continued to Lancaster and the San Fernando Valley.\u00a0 I was keeping close tabs on the mileage.\u00a0 The estimates on the iphone and by the tow truck company were about 210 miles from Ballarat to Thousand Oaks.\u00a0 Well, if I had to pay 80 bucks, that was not bad at all.\u00a0 It would cost that much for motel rooms in Ridgecrest.<\/p>\n We passed a bad accident scene on the 14 Freeway in Lancaster.\u00a0 It looked like it was a fatal accident.\u00a0 That quickly put my bad day into perspective.\u00a0 Nothing could be as bad as that, and here I am fretting over a camcorder and a repair job and\u00a0maybe 80 bucks.<\/p>\n The clocked passed\u00a01 a.m.\u00a0and we still had an hour to go.\u00a0 I was thinking about the camcorder bag still — how in the SAM HILL did I misplace it?\u00a0 It was bugging me tremendously, and I was so perturbed at myself.\u00a0 I was also thinking, well, we will be home soon, there will be no night at Ridgecrest, Jennifer can get her rental car later today, and it IS a new day now.\u00a0 Maybe all of the bad stuff is behind us, and maybe the new day, Friday, will be a lot better.\u00a0 I need a good day to make up for Thursday!\u00a0 And then a hint of a good thought crossed my mind.\u00a0 Since I could not conceive of how I could possibly have allowed my camcorder bag to go missing or be left behind somewhere, I thought, hmmm…could it possibly be at home still?\u00a0 I had it by the door early on Thursday, ready to go out to the car with the other bags.\u00a0 Could I have really been so distracted by something that I left it there?\u00a0 Hmmm….<\/p>\n As we neared Thousand Oaks and Gil’s repair shop, it was looking good on the mileage.\u00a0 About 20 miles out, I told Jeremy and Jennifer that it would be close to 200 miles.\u00a0 We exited the freeway at 199 miles, and drove the next one-half mile to Gil’s place.\u00a0 Wow — 199.5 miles from Ballarat to Gil’s repair shop in Thousand Oaks!\u00a0 We barely got under the 200-mile cutoff, and we owed NOTHING extra!\u00a0 Thank you Jennifer and AAA!\u00a0 I have the regular coverage which allows\u00a0seven free miles, I think.\u00a0 I would have been a lot poorer and I would have been in Trona or Ridgecrest if Jennifer had not been along.<\/p>\n We parked the Xterra on the street across from Gil’s, and I left a spare car key in their drop box.\u00a0 I\u00a0wrote on the note\u00a0to make the Xterra run again!\u00a0 Jeremy gave us a lift back to my condo, less than two miles away, and we thanked him profusely.\u00a0 He would not and could not accept tips.\u00a0 It was after 2 a.m., and he would be back to Ridgecrest with the sky getting bright.<\/p>\n I opened up the garage, and there was no camcorder bag sitting on the floor of the garage.\u00a0 SHOOT!\u00a0 I opened the garage door to the kitchen, and there it was.\u00a0 On the breakfast table, right there.\u00a0 Two feet from the door.\u00a0 Bill Reid had left his camcorder bag at home.\u00a0 It is celebration time for Mr. Stupid Head!\u00a0 I was elated.<\/p>\n I checked the mail, and there was an early birthday card for me from a dear friend from the other side of the planet.\u00a0 Wow, how nice!\u00a0 This day is the BEST!\u00a0 It can not possibly be any better!<\/p>\n I called Gil late in the morning to ask about the Xterra.\u00a0 “Bill, your distributor bolt had come loose and the timing was off 180 degrees.\u00a0 We got it back on good and it is running fine.\u00a0 That will be 94 dollars.\u00a0 I will come on by now to pick you up so you can drive your Xterra away.”<\/p>\n Oh, my God.\u00a0 This is the best Friday ever!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"