Road Trips : US Tour 2005 : Page Five
Thursday 9 June 2005: El Paso to Fredericksburg
It's really too bad we didn't have more time, because I'd love to have
spent some time in El Paso and Juarez. As it was, we had breakfast at
a great (and dirt cheap) Mexican place and then drove through downtown,
heading out on the very well-fortified Border Highway. It's amazing
how much money and effort we spend keeping trying to keep Mexico
from crossing the border. By the way, why is it IMPOSSIBLE to buy a
map of Juarez in El Paso?
The drive was from hell, one of the worst of the trip. West Texas is one of the most godforsaken stretches of nothingness I've ever experienced. We went almost 600 miles without passing through a single town of more than 10,000 people...
When we hit Fredericksburg, we were excited. It was the closest thing we'd seen to civilization in hours: a cute little German-themed town in the middle of Texas. It also signified that we were finally close to Austin, although there seems to be some sort of ordinance against mentioning the state capitol on any directional signs along US 290. We were ready to be somewhere. Anywhere...
And then, about three miles out of town, we heard the rattle. It got more "rattly". The oil light came on. The engine went off. And suddenly, we were stranded with a dead car beside a field just outside Fredericksburg TX at midnight...
We called AAA. They promised a tow truck within an hour, which gave us plenty of time to get really pessimistic and start wondering what would happen next. We wondered what was wrong and how much it might cost to fix. We wondered how difficult it would be to ditch the car there and rent one to drive the rest of the way home. Either way, we knew the fun part of the trip was pretty much over. But we kept it together fairly well until Boomhauer showed up to tow us to a garage, and even took us and all the stuff in our trunk to a nearby motel...
Sleep was not forthcoming...
Friday 10 June 2005: Stranded in Fredericksburg
On a hot Friday morning in Fredericksburg, we called my parents and asked them to FedEx the newly-issued North Carolina tags and title for my car, lest we need to rid ourselves of it. Then, we walked over to the garage, which also doubled as the local impound lot. The idiot mechanic at Behrend's (if you're ever in Fredericksburg, avoid this garage) looked under the hood, told me all the coolant had leaked out of the radiator, filled it up again, and told me he couldn't find any additional leak nor any good reason for one. The car started just fine. He took a small payment under the table...
Back at the motel, Mark and I were unconvinced by his diagnosis. Why, for example, had the car been running so smoothly and even so much cooler than usual over the past few days. Why did this happen all of a sudden and with no warning; it wasn't as if we'd had a slow radiator leak which would have been gradual and noticeable. Our suspicions were confirmed when we realized we were still leaking. We drove to a Goodyear dealer on the outskirts of town, where the mechanic said, "I can't work on this foreign car." Mind you, he was talking about my 1991 Toyota Corolla, constructed in Fremont CA, which is one of the most common cars on the road today...
We then went to Chassis by Zach on his recommendation. We love Zach. He has a certain wry humor and a talent for finding what's wrong with cars and fixing it (and Mark thought he was cute). He surmised that our problem was a busted radiator drain cap and a pinched O-ring. After one incorrect part delivery and one brief moment when he feared he might need to pull out the radiator, he sent us on our way with a fully-functional (in relative terms) car. Yay, Zach...
We stopped at the H-E-B and bought me a souvenir 100th anniversary bear to celebrate. And we went for a drive in the evening to test things out. So far, so good, although a significant damper had still been put on the trip. At least we slept reasonably well...