top of page
Scott

The Disaster Leading Up To The Netherlands Trip

I have been putting off this post because it is long and not fun.

The countertop that we waited so long for was a bust. We had a sample of the material we wanted and showed them so they could order the right color and pattern. We don’t know what happened but the counter they delivered was the wrong color. It was tan with speckles instead of white with grey marbling. They had to take it all back and we canceled the order. We would have had to wait another two or three weeks for the right countertop. We will have to try again in Arizona.


Our plan was to drive to Las Vegas and head to The Netherlands from there. We had an RV spot reserved, a dog kennel reserved, and appointments for COVID testing all made and paid for. Too bad we didn’t make it to Las Vegas.


The trip plan was this, go from Bakersfield to Barstow, spend the night in Barstow, then leave early to get to Las Vegas by noon. Then we could unhook the trailer and go get the COVID tests done. The next morning, we would have Uber take us and the dogs to the kennel, and then Uber would take us to the airport. That all sounds simple.


Too bad we couldn’t make it past Bakersfield. We left the RV park and made it about 10 miles when we heard a pop and a loud hissing noise. I pulled off the road and checked to see if I could see any obvious problems. I couldn’t. I started the truck up again and we didn’t hear any more noise. Unfortunately, the noise came back when I stepped on the gas. It only happened when I stepped on the gas. We were broken down on the side of the road.


We have a roadside assistance plan that is supposed to send either an emergency service truck or a tow truck. I called them and they said my plan was expired and I would have to do it myself. I knew I had renewed it. Jan found the card and it said it expired in 2023 so I called them back. The next operator said it was no problem and that she sees we had a valid plan. She didn’t know what the other guy was looking at.


She spent about an hour trying to find a tow truck big enough to tow a truck and a trailer. All the big tow trucks were out on calls for semis. She finally found a place that could do it, but it be 3 hours to get here. How fun. By this time it was about noon.


All we could do was sit in the truck with the engine idling to keep the air conditioner running. Idling was fine because I didn’t have to step on the gas.


About 2 o’clock, an emergency service truck pulled up to us. He saw us and stopped to see if he could help. His team was further up the Highway replacing a radiator on a semi. He was delivering parts when he saw us. He checked out the engine and found that the hose coming out of the turbo charger had popped off. He spent an hour trying to clamp the hose back on. Close to 3pm and still no tow truck. He finally got a clamp on and said that we should try to make it to to his shop in Boron where he could replace the hose. I started up the hill and didn’t get more than a quarter mile before I started losing power and slowing down. I had to pull over again.

Plan B, the service guy, Bill, would go get one of his crew to come help. There we were, sitting on the side of the road again, still waiting for either the tow truck or the service guy to come back. The tow truck was supposed to be there by 3, but no sign of it yet.


We waited another half hour before Bill and another guy came back. They tried to replace the clamps, but no deal. They got a clamp on, but it didn’t hold. The truck wouldn’t budge going up hill.


Bill took the other guy home and came back. He waited with us until the tow truck showed up at about 5:30. Bill took Jan and Brie back to the RV park where Jan got a site for one night. I stayed with the truck. It took an hour to hook up the truck. They had to take the drive shaft off. I was finally back on the road by 6:30 and heading right back where I started from.


We caused some excitement in the park. Luckily, the spot they gave us was accessible to a tow truck hauling a truck which was hauling a 40’ trailer. A couple of guys came over to talk while they unhooked the truck. They had broken down too (only a couple of days earlier). They were staying in the overflow side with only electricity. They spent 9 hours waiting for a tow. Another guy said he once waited 12 hours for a tow. According to the tow truck guys, semis get priority because they usually have a contract with the towing company. Everyone else has to wait for a freed up truck.


We got up the next morning and the situation was this: we had an RV spot for one night, a truck that doesn’t go anywhere, and we needed to be in Las Vegas in one day.


The RV park was nice. They rearranged 2 bookings and were able to free up the spot we were in up to December 1. So now we had a place for the trailer for as long as we needed it. Next was the truck. I called the local GMC dealer and they could work on it while we were gone. Then I got a tow truck to tow it there.


We were making progress. Now we have to get us and the dogs to Las Vegas.

Did you know that car rental companies do not want to rent cars for one way trips? The car shortage means they don’t want to lose their cars. None of the companies in the city of Bakersfield would rent to us. We finally found a place at the airport that would do it only if we dropped it off at the airport in Las Vegas, but we had to wait until some cars were returned because all their cars were rented out. They should have something by 2 or 3pm.


We we’re making progress. I took an Uber to get the rental car and Jan found a dog friendly hotel in Vegas.

We left the truck and the trailer in Bakersfield and headed for Vegas by about 4:30. One thing worked in our favor, The Netherlands no long required COVID tests to enter the country so we didn’t have to fit that into our schedule.


The only thing notable that night was that Porter peed on the tile floor. He is pretty much potty trained but this was too much for him. I wasn’t too worried about it because they charged us a $75 pet fee.


Next morning went pretty smoothly. The dogs were dropped off. Brie was happy, Porter was not.


The airport went smoothly until the boarding call. When they called our group, the stewardess pulled us out of line and said we had to go back to the counter to check in again. They pulled out all the people flying overseas. We all had to go back to the counter and show all our documents again. Apparently, some regulations changed between the time we got our boarding passes to the time we had to board. The counter lady didn’t know what was going on either. The first lady in line took a long time to straighten out. We were next and went faster. Surprisingly, they got everyone on the plane in time to leave. The plane left the gate and got in line to take off and then we stayed there for 45 minutes. That’s how long it took for us to take off. That cut in to our lay over time in LA.


They had been boarding our next plane for 10 minutes when we landed. We had to run to the shuttle to get to the international terminal. We did make it but we couldn’t board until they checked all our documents again. We may have been the last people on the plane, but we did make it. The flight was uneventful and we tried to sleep to Europe.


We are here now and having fun.

15 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

May

Springtime

Comments


bottom of page