4/4/2010

The beginning of April, and we’ve racked up a meager sixteen days of boarding. Bad snow, injuries and the job search all seem muddled together into a winter that has been at the same time worthless and productive.

We started driving Dirk’s things out to Utah last night. In addition to my normal neuroticism, I have a special neuroticism for towing things behind vehicles. It’s always made me nervous, back to the days of hauling my grandfather’s bass boat behind a minivan for summer vacations.

With the U-Haul packed to the brim we racked up fourteen fun-filled hours on Friday. We spent the night in Kearney, Nebraska and woke up bright and early to complete the trip. Three hours into Saturday’s drive, we stopped for gas. As we pulled in, I heard a peculiar whining sound - but Dirk was convinced it was coming from a dog in the car next to us. As we pulled away, the whining sound was back. We debated whether to take a look, and Dirk finally instructed me to drive slowly while he stood outside the car and took a look at the wheel. As soon as he got out, he summoned me.

I don’t know anything about cars, but even I could tell that wheel was F-U-C-T. The Truck Stop mechanic came over to help Dirk’s diagnosis.

“Don’t you drive that thing there one more inch! Bearings bust; spindles bust; that wheel should have fallen off miles ago,” he grunted in Nebraska-ease. “I can’t fix it for you, so you best just get a room for the night here and try to work it out with U-Haul tomorrow. The closest dealer is in Ogallala.”

It was Easter Sunday and we had an undriveable U-Haul. But I have this thing about creepy Nebraska towns and any motel chain that is located in the same parking lot as a Truck Stop. I guess watching The Hills Have Eyes combined with the 20/20 Hotel Horrors expose finally caught up to me.

We called U-Haul and started progressing through the various menus – computerized and human. Over an hour later, the mechanic from Ogallala showed up. Great news – he can fix it! Well, kind of. He has to drive back to his shop (20 country miles away) and get the stuff to try and fix it. But before he leaves, he commented that he sees this “all the time” with U-Haul trailers because the mechanics never oil them up for cross-country distances. (Hmm…that makes us feel great about the other wheel on this trailer.

He leaves. An hour later, he returns. He works on the wheel for a half hour and then reports that he can’t fix it. We’ll have to get another trailer; luckily he’s made the wheel temporarily road-worthy so we can drive it there.

We drive the trailer to his shop in the middle of creep-town and have the distinct pleasure of unloading the entire trailer and trying to Tetris Dirk's stuff back in. Now, this is no ordinarily-packed trailer. Dirk has personally fastened his own hanging-clothes bar by drilling it into the side of the U-Haul and the box spring. So, this transfer is a huge process and takes at least an hour. (And, yes, the whole time we were packing the new trailer, we were wondering if this new one had been prepared for cross-country distances).

Five hours after initially stopping for gas, we were ready to get back on the road. We had over ten hours of driving still to do. We did make it safe to home sweet home at around 1am Utah time. But every mile was filled with worry and terror as we waited for the new trailer to break.

It could have been worse...the wheel of the first trailer could have fallen off and all our stuff could have been ruined. But, really, that's just another reason U-Haul is on my shit list. So, did we get any money back? Well, the trailer was $500 and we got $35 refunded for our trouble.....