Truck Saga

The boys' dad, Michael, decided that he would give each of them a truck. That was several months ago. Give isn't quite the correct word, more like he had them work for him to buy the trucks. Well, both Kyle and Greg went to their dads' on weekends, vacations, and just about any other time that Michael could talk them into going out there. Kyle went a little more often than Greg, it still took him several months for Michael to finally give him his truck. It was like pulling teeth to get him to pay for insurance so that Kyle could actually drive his truck home. Thankfully Michael paid to put tags on both trucks. Kyle was able to drive his truck home a little more than a month ago, he has already had to replace the hydraulics for his clutch. The boys were supposed to be able to drive their trucks without having to make to many repairs, their dad had already worked on these trucks to make them run, unfortunately it wasn't quite enough. Kyle is also replacing other minor parts.

If only that were the end of it all. We can't forget Greg and his truck. It has taken at least another month for Michael to get Gregs' truck ready for him to drive home. Greg went to his dads' for what he thought would only be a two or three days, it turned out to be almost a week that he spent with his dad, not something that he had planned on at all. The last thing that needed to be done before Greg could take the truck home is to have the windshield replaced, but before the window was replaced Greg had to go get some lumber for one of his dads' workers. well he managed to get the wood and was on the way back to deliver it when his truck broke down. Both Greg and Kyle were stuck on the side of the highway for two hours before their dad could come and get them. Michael had been in Phoenix for a court appearance, that's not to surprising and a story that I am not going to repeat, there is no need to. By the time I was called I had no vehicle to go and get them from there dads', so they called one of their friends to come and get them. If their friend hadn't been able to, Kyle's Navy recruiter would have gone to get them, Kyle had an early morning appointment for a physical and to talk about what he would like to do in the Navy. Anyway, they got home. Jerry was going to try to use the car dolly to tow Greg's truck home that night. The truck turned out to be a little to big and to far off the road for him to get by himself, so we went back the next morning with a new battery cable hoping that it would fix the problem so that Greg could drive it back. Well that didn't fix the problem, what it needs is a starter. On the way home we stopped to test the battery just to make sure that it wasn't bad, it tested fine, so now we're back to needing to replace the starter. Anyway, with the temperatures soaring up to 110 and the humidity up to 80%, I know that doesn't sound so bad to some who have to live with higher humidity but it is a deadly combination here, we headed home, it was just to hot to try to get the truck running.

That afternoon I spent on the phone to different tow truck companies to see what it would cost to get the truck towed home, the cheapest was approximately $120. Kyle's truck was also in the shop at this same time getting the hydraulics replaced, which was cost $420 to fix, and I am still waiting on a child support check that was sent from the clearing house on the 16th of July which was going to pay for all of this, and yes I am still waiting. I also had to call the sheriff's department to let them know that Greg's truck was not abandoned and that we were going to have it towed the next day. The truck had been orange tagged by the police to be towed to police impound. Mark, my son-in-law, came over, was told about the trails and tribulations of getting Greg's truck home and he volunteered his Triple A card to the cause. By this time Jerry has decided that we can't park the truck here, with it needing so much work we really couldn't have it here according to the park rules anyway. So Greg found a friend's house to park it, thankfully his friend is a budding mechanic and the thought of having a truck to look over and help fix was very exciting.

So now we have a way of towing it and a place to put it. The next day we call Triple A for a tow truck, got the file started and was told to call back when we got closer to where the truck was on the side of the highway. Off Greg and I go to where his truck is waiting. He calls Triple A once we get within ten minutes of where the truck is, he was told that it could be anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes for the tow truck to get there. A few minutes later we get to where his truck is and there is another orange tag, this time from the Surprise police department. About 20 minutes later the tow truck shows up, thankfully we didn't have to wait that long. It took a bit to get the truck onto the bed of the tow truck, once it was there we were off with the tow truck following us back into town and home. We went through Sun City West, then Surprise, then as we get part way through Sun City while we were stopped at the light the tow truck driver says that Greg's truck is leaking gas and we have to pull over. Thankfully we were right next to a gas station, that is where Greg's truck had to be dropped. With the heat and the metal bed of the tow truck we were very lucky that a fire hadn't started. While the tow truck driver was on the phone to his dispatcher he gets the new that the daycare center where his son is at has just had an electrical fire and all the children have to be picked up within the hour or CPS will come and get them. It was a good thing that we had to stop because if we hadn't he would not have been able to pick up his son in time. Now Greg's truck is now only half way home, this time though it is sitting in the parking lot of a gas station and not in the weeds next to the highway. Jerry decides that he and Greg should be able to now tow the truck with the car dolly.

The next morning, it is now Friday this all started on Tuesday, Jerry and Gregory go to tow the truck. That didn't go as well as expected either. Evidently the dolly ended up getting a flat tire, of course that had to be changed. What should have taken only an hour or so ended up taking at least three hours, and Kyle's truck still had to be picked up from the mechanics shop, along with other errands that I had to run. By the time that they got back, Jerry was over heated and Greg still had to position his truck in his friends yard where they wanted it to be. After that Kyle and I had to go and get his truck and still run errands.

I must mention that through all of this not once had Michael ever asked if I wanted the boys to get a truck or if we had a place for them to park the trucks. I had wanted Greg and Kyle to have jobs before they had any vehicle so that they could pay for their portion of the insurance as well as pay for anything else that they would need. He even had the nerve to call me in the middle of getting these trucks running to complain that his father never gave him a vehicle, at which time I told him that I hadn't really wanted the boys to have a truck until they had a job. Which stopped his complaints immediately. Thank goodness for small favors. What fun we have had this week. To think that school starts on the 15th of August.

Peace, Love, Joy