What the… everything had been as smooth as silk, what is going on? I sat there for a few minutes and tried to start my car again and nothing. I sat there for a while and tried it again and nothing. I realize at this point that something was not right. Not that the clues weren’t there when the car stalled and rolled into a parking space. Duh! I went to my purse and got out my AAA card and made a call. After giving them all my information I was told that it would be the standard 45 minute wait till help would arrive. When I hung up the phone I opened the car door and Lucy and I sat there and waited. I took inventory of my surroundings….it was dusk; people are coming and going from the truck stop paying me no mind. I saw a Comfort Inn a little bit down the road and a 24 hour truck repair garage. I made a few phone calls to my brother, parents, and some friends back in Milwaukee to let them all know of my situation.
An hour and half later a wrecker truck pull up and two men get out. One is wearing mechanic clothes and the other in dress clothes. The mechanic gave me a jump and nothing. Then he had me open up the gas cap and listened while I turned the ignition. Nothing. He came back over to me and said, in his East Tennessee twang “ Weeeellll, ahpeeers yawr gas pump isn’t weerkin andy didn’t breeng ma flatbed.” We both stood and looked at each other for a minute and I said, ” Your not going to just leave me here are you?” We both stood there and looked at each other and the guy in dress clothes seemed nervous and like he needed to be somewhere. The mechanic looked around and saw the 24 hour truck garage. He called over to them, explained the situation and they said to bring me on over.
I was hooked to the wrecker truck and was taken over to the 24 your truck garage. Lucy riding in the back of my SUV and me sitting between these two fellows in the front seat of the wrecker truck. We arrive at the garage and pull into what looks like an airplane hanger. This place was HUGE. They unhook me from the wrecker and get back in and drive away. As I watch them driving away I see a fellow coming out of what appears to be an office. I took one look at this guy; combat boots, blue jeans, cutout sleeves of a worn denim shirt and a turned around baseball cap. I immediately got Lucy out of the car (leased) and stood there as this fellow approached. He looked under the hood and then asked for my owner’s manual. I knew at that moment that this is not a good sign. After looking through the manual he said,” Ah gota call mu boss, Bob.” Now this is Saturday night on a Memorial weekend and no one is going to be in a hurry to help me out. This young man called and Bob didn’t answer. After about 10 minutes Bob calls and says he will be there in an hour. This event started at 7:00pm and now we are going on 11:00pm. I am getting tired and totally not cool with my situation. I remembered I saw a Comfort Inn and decided to call them, get a room and deal with this in the morning.
I call over to the Comfort Inn, explained my situation and asked if they had any rooms. The lady that answered the phone told me they had rooms but they didn’t take dawgs. I explained my situation again as I might not have made myself clear the first time. I am a lady in distress…stranded and I need a place to stay. The lady said now with an attitude, “Mam, we don’t take dawgs.” I am now irritated, tired and hungry and asked to speak with a manager. “Well Mam I will have ta cawl her at home, hold on.” She comes back after an extended amount of time and says, “ We don’t take dawgs and we can’t hep you, I’um reeaal sorry.” Ahhhhhh, what the…..? I call AAA again and bitch about my situation. They asked if I felt safe and I said NO and they offered to call the police for me. Well, this situation didn’t really warrant the police so I asked then if they could just hurry.
Chet showed up about 30 minutes later. Chet is a retired over the road trucker and now does roadside assistance. He had a brand new flatbed truck and said I was the first customer. Once he got my SUV, with Lucy in the back on her bed, secured onto the flatbed we were all set. Chet asked me where we were going and I told him to take me to the dealership and gave him the address. It is now midnight and I have 150 miles left on my trip. Chet and I got into his cab and I saw right away his chew spit can in the drink holder and thought, Oh Yeah! He turns on his flashing yellow lights and we take off. After about 10 minutes I thought I was going to have a seizure with those yellow strobbing lights. I asked him if the lights bothered him and he said No and he asked, You? I said yes and he told me to close my eyes. Nice.
Chet drove through Pigeon Forge on I-40 like he was a race car driver. I totally kept my eyes closed and just hung on for dear life. We got to the dealership at 2:30AM and he got my SUV off the flatbed. AAA only covers 120 miles and we went 150 miles so I owed him money and he wants cash. We couldn’t have discussed this at the beginning of our little excursion so I could have gone to a ATM at the truck stop…really? Here I am at 2:45am scrounging around my car for enough change to add to my $55.00 to total $60.00 that I owed him. I thought to myself, this could look like a drug deal. We are now all square and he his leaving and I am standing alone in the dealership parking lot. Before he left asked him if he could give me a ride to my parent’s house that was within a mile of where we were. He agreed and I, my luggage, Lucy and Lucy’s crate all crammed ourselves into the cab of the flatbed. He turned on those damn yellow strobe lights and off we went. When we turned into the subdivision my parents live in I asked him if he could turn off the lights and he said, he couldn’t it was the law. Really, in the subdivision at 3:00am...who is going to know. We arrived at my parents I can only imagine what the neighbors thought.
The dealership was open on Memorial Day and diagnosed my SUV. My Dad and I went over to the dealership to check on the progress. The mechanic told me I had a full tank of diesel fuel. I was speechless. Diesel fuel? Really? How could this be? I was totally dumb founded. They had to drain my tank, take it out, scrub it and put it back in, costing me $500.00. Ouch. The dealership service manager told me when I used up a full tank of gas to put a carburetor cleaner into the gas tank the next time I filled up.
After all this drama I calmed down and had a good visit with the family. After a week it was time to head back to Wisconsin. I packed up me and Lucy and off we went with the intention to stop by the truck stop. I wanted to figure how the hell I put diesel fuel into my vehicle. I get passed Knoxville and arrive at the truck stop and went to the gas pump I had used. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The diesel sticker was on the right of the pump station, which I am familiar with , and the diesel pump was on the left which should be on the right underneath the sticker. In Wisconsin and every state I traveled through the diesel sticker and pump are both on the right side. I made my selection and grabbed the first pump not noticing the yellow handle. After all the regular gas pump is always the first pump on the left. The nozzle fit in the tank and I pumped away. Now in Wisconsin the diesel nozzle does not fit into a gas tank preventing any mistake. This the story of how diesel fuel got into my gas tank….I was thinking Wisconsin and not Tennessee.
Lucy and I continued down the road heading back to Wisconsin. When my tank emptied I stopped to fill it up paying careful attention to which pump I was using. Just as the service manager at the dealership had recommended I put carburetor cleaner into the gas tank. Once I was back on the road the cleaner started working and big clouds of white smoke came out of my tail pipe. I mean this smoke was so thick that I am sure the cars behind me were blinded. I hope I didn't cause a car pile up!
I am sure there was a moral to this story but I haven’t figured it out yet but it does make for a good story.
Thanks to all those who have served and given their lives for my freedom ..have a happy and “safe” Memorial Week!
