Towing Local

I mentioned briefly a couple of days ago,
That while I was on Vaca,
Our car broke down.

Leaving us stranded in the middle of Canyonlands.
With very spotty reception.
It was basically the "You had to stand on one foot, your hand in the air and blink three times to get reception.
Really, it was amazing we got a signal at all.

But like I said, it was spotty.
So calls would be dropped or be very staticy.
Texts could go through fine for the most part.
Calls less so.
I called my sister Kikay like six times and she only showed that she received one call from me.

So with such spotty reception.
Calling a Tow Truck to us proved to be a little tricky.

We had the Rangers call one for us, but they said that the Tow Truck would be three hours away.
Not willing to wait that long.
We looked into other options.
And managed, through our insurance, to find another Tow Truck that could come out to get us.
Only....
It was also three hours away.
And since this was like an hour later....
It meant that the ranger tow truck would be closer to coming.
Still...
We weren't sure, which one or if either one would show up.
So, it was decided to keep both Tow Trucks coming to us.
Which ever one would show up first.
We would then call the second and say that we didn't need them anymore, to save them from driving all the way out into the middle of nowhere and not find us there.

We waited then.
Waited and waited and waited.

And about the point the first tow truck was supposed to arrive, I got a call.
From the second tow truck, asking where we were, as he was there....but didn't see us. Turns out he had ended up at a different overlook, having missed our turn off. But he was right in the area. An hour earlier than we expected! He would be there soon! Sweeeeet. ^^
I hung up.
And like two seconds later.
We see the tow truck with it's big yellow cab turn around the corner.

But wait.
It wasn't the right tow truck I'd just talked to.
It was the other company.
()_()
uhoh.
>.<
Should have known that would happen.
Have both tow trucks show up at the same time.
It's like a rule. Everything happens at once.

Totally a dilemma though.
Which tow truck to go with.
The guy right there.
Or the one our insurance had called that was also in the area.

Since the insurance Tow Truck would save us a little bit of money....
We decided to go with him.
Though he wasn't there yet.
And this first tow truck had come all the way out here....and the guy was big, beefy, and obviously not a guy you'd want to get on the bad side of.

And we definitely didn't want to send this guy off....only to have the second one not show up....
So we had him wait for a little bit....before sending him on his way, with a little compensation for driving all the way out here, and hopefully less hard feelings about not being needed....

And we waited....
and waited....
Anxiously staring at the bend in the road.
Listening to all the cars coming up.
Wondering if this sound would be the sound that would bring us our rescuer.
Wondering if the first tow truck had stopped the second one, in revenge. :S
Wondering if the second tow truck would ever come or if we'd have to call the first one back.

Then finally.
Around the bend.
Came this big pickup truck with a trailer on the back.

Was this our 'tow truck?' Had we just made a huge mistake not going with the official looking first tow guy?

Yep, it was our tow truck.
And a skinny dude in shorts but a big happy smile hopped out of the truck.
Not the guy we'd been expecting. but we weren't about to send the second tow truck away.
O.o We'd be sun crazed if we did. lol.

But definitely this guy didn't look as official as the last guy.
So out of curiosity we asked him what his rate per mile was.
And the dollar amount per mile he quoted us was nearly a dollar less than the first guy.
Yay! A dollar isn't much, but considering we had a looooonnnggg ways to get back to town, even penny saved was worth it.
Yay for going with this guy if for nothing else that he charged less.

Making conversation, we told him that we ended up having two tow trucks come to our location but we sent the first one away.
The dude was like "The Yellow Cab?! Excellent!" He reacted like we'd just won the game, offering my dad a high five.
Why? Because the tow truck we sent away is basically the "Big Daddy. The Money Guzzler, the Big Business" of the area. The one that would charge more than the others because their name was more recognizable than the home grown tow shops. It's the company the rangers always call when the sight seers get into car trouble, hence why they charge more apparently.
Yay. High Five to us for not going with them! lol


^^ This guy definitely has a knack for making us feel good about ourselves in our stressful and ungood situation of 'we're about to spend a ton of money' lol. He was much more personable than the first guy, more friendly, seeming more helpful.

He explained to us, as our car was winched up onto the trailer, that that day was actually his day off. That he'd been out on the Colorado River, when his wife -who was the original one intended to come pick us up- called for him to come out as back up as she was stuck out on the highway towing cars out there.
That's why he showed up earlier than expected. If she hadn't called, we would have gone with Big Yellow, would have spent more money. Wouldn't have had as great as an idea as to what our situation was.

Because a bonus to going with the second guy was this.
He was a mechanic too.
So. He could tow our car, but also FIX it.
And fix it quickly. Done by the next day.
Yes! Score!

The first was just a towing company, and they probably would have towed us to the most expensive mechanic in the town.....probably, who knows. Parts could have taken longer to arrive....

In any case.
Our Tow Truck Driver was great. ^^ We had a fun conversation with him the long ride back into town, and he kindly dropped us off at a Restaurant to wait for Kikay to come rescue us and take us back to our hotel. The tow guy said he should have things fixed by the next morning.

Of course....things never go to plan.
The part to fix our Car ended up not being in town.
So they had to get it in a town three hours away. (Notice a 3 theme? lol.)  Idk if it was 3 hours each way or roundtrip....but needless to say....it took longer to fix the car than originally planned.

Thankfully, we had had Kikay drive down to our rescue, so she could take us kids back home, while Daddoo waited for the car to be finished and drove up later that night.
Getting us all home on the day we planned. Ending our exciting adventure.

I'm so grateful that we had such a good experience with the Local Tow Guy. ^^ He went the extra mile for sure. Making us feel good, fixing our Car instead of having us depend on some other group.
Definitely a great experience. One that showed me that going for the local guys can sometimes be much better than going for the big well known name groups. :)

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

Somehow my Parents had managed to get into an event where Benedict Cumberbatch was signing. They had him sign a pair of those big heavy white gloves, the kinds used to handle chemicals. These gloves were covered in different signatures from other people. Kikay and I were super excited to have him there. And shyly asked him to sign some artwork we'd been working on. He wrote inspirational messages on Kikay's drawings -which were more doodle sketches- before handing it back. Mine, which from what I recall was a drawing of Thor and an unfinished Loki had him totally in Awe. He thought it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, which totally confused me as Kikay does much better drawing than I did. Yet he was reacting so well to mine. He signed it...but wanted to keep it. Though I was...concerned as it wasn't done yet, and I had wanted to finish it. I also wondered if he actually saw the Thor/Loki thing I was drawing because if you turned the picture on it's side...you'd actually see a picture of a Dalek...so I wasn't sure which thing he saw and loved....but he loved it.....

Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D