A picture on the hotel wall...

Well the day started with a flat tire on the truck. So I called the shop and they said they would get back to me on sending a person out to fix it. 30 minutes pass - nothing. At 90 minutes I called them back and it seems that nobody was available to fix the tire on an emergency basis. At 5 hours I was about to go home after talking to my boss but they found someone to fix it and so I knew I would be sleeping in the truck that night but at least two of the three drops could still be done that day.

After the second drop the stop engine light came on. Not wanting to block a major highway on a curve, I limped the truck to an open lot and call the shop. Since diagnosis is done in real time they said it was a transmission issue so a tow truck was called. The shop they took me to is open 8am to 4pm Monday through Friday and since it was 3pm, they would look at it the next day. Time to walk a half a mile in the rain to a hotel.

Sure enough the next day they confirmed the transmission wasn't taking to the engine and although both were working - if something failed then I wouldn't get a warning light risking a $10k transmission or a $35k engine. They wouldn't know if it was a broken wire or one of the small computers running things until further testing on Friday. I could have waited for a ride home but after a few calls finding out U-haul was cheaper than a rental car, I walked the 1 1/2 miles and rented one, drove to drop off place near home and at night walked the two miles in the rain home.

Hopefully it will be something simple on the truck but until then I will be driving a spare and...