A full day and only 22 miles to show for it!

Good evening from the bottle water manufacturer that I drove to from Glenwood this morning!  It was a pretty drive as the sun was slowly rising bringing the forest and her colors back to life; while little towns of less than five hundred individuals were sipping their coffees over the warmth of their fireplaces while  the children prepared for school.   And then my day went to bust!

As I was pulling away from the loading dock, I looked back to see two tires on the right side of the trailer looking a little low.  This is concerning as these are self regulated tires, they adjust their own air as needed depending on the load and the outside temperature.  I backed into a space out of the way and sure enough, one tire was slowly leaking and I couldn’t tell from where (even with the truck running and sending air to the break chambers).  I notified breakdown at 9:30 AM.

At 4:30 PM, I was notified to drive the truck to a truck stop that was 60 miles away (I gave them two local companies but they never called them).  By this time, the tire lost its air seal around the rim and there was NO WAY was I going to drive it in this condition.  I drove back into town (22 miles and bobtailed) so I could get cell service and contacted my dispatch and breakdown.  It is now 7:30 PM, I am well fed, back at my truck and a service repair truck from that truck stop 60 miles away is in route….should be here but 8 PM!

In the meantime, I had a Shotgun (bake potato covered in baked beans, BBQ pork and coleslaw) for dinner and met Hillbilly Joe outside his 2^nd (3^rd and maybe 4^th) “hand me down” shack or ummm……business.  He was quite the salesman and gave me a tour stating most of his customers are out of towners such as me that stop and take pictures (hmmmm, wonder why that is).  He even smiled when he mentions that the locals even help out as there are times when he arrives at his little location with donations dropped off waiting for him!  I think the Goodwill is a little too far away for these folks to drive to. 

He rents this little side of the mountain for $50 a month and wants to buy it, put up a restaurant named Hillbilly Joes Swill and build an outdoor bandstand for country and bluegrass music.  We will have to check back in a few years and see how that dream is developing.

I am going to watch a movie………see you all in the morning!