After we bid good bye to Norm, we hop back into our car. It was very windy and extra sunny; a weird combination of hot and cold was out there. And having stood there for almost 2 hours now I was a bit tired and wanted to sit and relax for a bit; before the crazy part 2 begins.
The tow truck finally arrives and a well built tall person introduces himself as Brent and starts with the paper work. I help him get the car onto the tow truck since the car would not start and was no longer staying in Neutral either, I had to sit in the car and control it till we got it on tow truck. We all hop into the truck, I sit right behind Brent, and we start to Panguitch, which was roughly 20 miles from where our car broke down, we were to stop at an auto station, get the car inspected and then call the roadside assistance.
When we reach the auto center, it was closed. Brent finds his way in from the back door, and we wait for about 20 mins, and then he suggests that we call the roadside assistance. I call them and that continues for almost 2 hours. Yes, first the customer service assistant goes to denial. She asks me to leave the car in auto station, and somehow reach either St. George that's about 120 miles from Panguitch or Vegas which was 250 miles away. I told the lady, there is no way I can find any ride here; there's no Uber or Lyft or Taxi service here. The only ride I have available is that of the Towtruck, and he will give us the ride only if we get the car towed.
She finally agreed and spoke to Brent. We worked out the details (there was a lot of drama, imagine if we have spent 2.5 hours to figure everything; that's a lot of to & fro. I will not go into details here). And we were finally on the road at 3:30 PM.
We reached Vegas at around 7:45 PM, and for those 4 hours it was just me and Brent chatting over every topic under this sun; while the rest of my friends slept through the journey.
He spoke about how he and his wife has this small ranch where they rehabilitate abused horses and puts them back to life. They get the horses when they are auctioned to the big bosses in market who eventually get them slaughtered outside USA (slaughtering horses in USA is illegal.) The horses are either physically challenged or really abused. I asked him what does he do with them when they start getting back to shape. He said either rent them out for horse rides or sell them to individuals who want to keep them. He also said that horses were famous for therapy especially for children with autism. He is a teacher by profession, and he does open the ranch up over weekends for such children.
We then spoke about Politics, why is Trump doing what he is doing, whether it's right or not; then he switched to Mormon philosophies. He was also acting as a tour guide on the ride to Vegas, where he went over detailing every small attractions on the way (even if none existed :D).
Then he spoke about how small towns like this have been ignored by government, how not having jobs in industry like coal mines etc.. have left the manpower in small towns struggling during winter for livelihood. He also runs a gun servicing station with his son, so we spoke about it's intricacies. I asked him how he started his career as tow truck driver. He went back to when he was young. He had picked up this job then, where he had to seize the vehicles from owners who were loan defaulters. I asked him which one was the best or worst memory from that time.
He particularly shared one instance. Back then (this was roughly 20-25 years back), they did not have such advanced tow trucks. The tow trucks were hook and go kinds, so it was required to sneak behind the owner and get the car without their notice. And the place being so remote, every one carried guns. So they also had to be careful that they did not get shot by the owners. There was one expensive sports car that he had to seize from the owner who would always keep it locked within the fence. After following him for days, finally one day Brent & his friend got lucky; guy had left the car parked on curbside, and seizing that moment Brent ran to it, got it hooked to tow; by then the owner was out. He started cursing and went in to get his gun; by then Brent & his friend were able to get out of sight. Brent was laughing remembering that incident. He said back then more than money it was for that adrenaline rush that he used to do that job; but now with the family he cannot think of doing that.
By the time we reached Vegas, my jaws were hurting. I had already had a long day; and for last 7 hours I had been talking constantly to either customer service or Norm or Brent; but it was a memorable day.
A school teacher, a tow truck driver, a gun smith, a horse ranch owner, a father, a staunch mormon follower, a listener of audio books on long drive, a traveler and much more - when all this is in one person, the saga never ends.
-Dated - 17th December 2017
(Ride to Vegas was on 24th November 2017)
The tow truck finally arrives and a well built tall person introduces himself as Brent and starts with the paper work. I help him get the car onto the tow truck since the car would not start and was no longer staying in Neutral either, I had to sit in the car and control it till we got it on tow truck. We all hop into the truck, I sit right behind Brent, and we start to Panguitch, which was roughly 20 miles from where our car broke down, we were to stop at an auto station, get the car inspected and then call the roadside assistance.
 |
| The Tow Truck with our car on it; at Panguitch Auto center |
When we reach the auto center, it was closed. Brent finds his way in from the back door, and we wait for about 20 mins, and then he suggests that we call the roadside assistance. I call them and that continues for almost 2 hours. Yes, first the customer service assistant goes to denial. She asks me to leave the car in auto station, and somehow reach either St. George that's about 120 miles from Panguitch or Vegas which was 250 miles away. I told the lady, there is no way I can find any ride here; there's no Uber or Lyft or Taxi service here. The only ride I have available is that of the Towtruck, and he will give us the ride only if we get the car towed.
We reached Vegas at around 7:45 PM, and for those 4 hours it was just me and Brent chatting over every topic under this sun; while the rest of my friends slept through the journey.
He spoke about how he and his wife has this small ranch where they rehabilitate abused horses and puts them back to life. They get the horses when they are auctioned to the big bosses in market who eventually get them slaughtered outside USA (slaughtering horses in USA is illegal.) The horses are either physically challenged or really abused. I asked him what does he do with them when they start getting back to shape. He said either rent them out for horse rides or sell them to individuals who want to keep them. He also said that horses were famous for therapy especially for children with autism. He is a teacher by profession, and he does open the ranch up over weekends for such children.
We then spoke about Politics, why is Trump doing what he is doing, whether it's right or not; then he switched to Mormon philosophies. He was also acting as a tour guide on the ride to Vegas, where he went over detailing every small attractions on the way (even if none existed :D).
Then he spoke about how small towns like this have been ignored by government, how not having jobs in industry like coal mines etc.. have left the manpower in small towns struggling during winter for livelihood. He also runs a gun servicing station with his son, so we spoke about it's intricacies. I asked him how he started his career as tow truck driver. He went back to when he was young. He had picked up this job then, where he had to seize the vehicles from owners who were loan defaulters. I asked him which one was the best or worst memory from that time.
He particularly shared one instance. Back then (this was roughly 20-25 years back), they did not have such advanced tow trucks. The tow trucks were hook and go kinds, so it was required to sneak behind the owner and get the car without their notice. And the place being so remote, every one carried guns. So they also had to be careful that they did not get shot by the owners. There was one expensive sports car that he had to seize from the owner who would always keep it locked within the fence. After following him for days, finally one day Brent & his friend got lucky; guy had left the car parked on curbside, and seizing that moment Brent ran to it, got it hooked to tow; by then the owner was out. He started cursing and went in to get his gun; by then Brent & his friend were able to get out of sight. Brent was laughing remembering that incident. He said back then more than money it was for that adrenaline rush that he used to do that job; but now with the family he cannot think of doing that.
By the time we reached Vegas, my jaws were hurting. I had already had a long day; and for last 7 hours I had been talking constantly to either customer service or Norm or Brent; but it was a memorable day.
A school teacher, a tow truck driver, a gun smith, a horse ranch owner, a father, a staunch mormon follower, a listener of audio books on long drive, a traveler and much more - when all this is in one person, the saga never ends.
-Dated - 17th December 2017
(Ride to Vegas was on 24th November 2017)
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