We would like to dedicate this post to the two tow truck drivers that picked us up along our treks to and from San Jose when Keri's Honda, Sparky, overheated twice. One of the tow truck drivers called himself a "hero of the highway" and though in my mind (Keri), I had a million sarcastic ways to make fun of him for saying that, I held my tongue and actually found it quite fitting.
These tow truck driver take their jobs very seriously and really try to make you feel comfortable and laugh about your situation. They were very simple but genuine men and we are grateful for their help.
On Wednesday night (June 29th), we had already driven about 9 hours and were about 2 more hours away from Fairfield when Sparky overheated going through the Donner Pass in California. It was around 1 or 2am in the morning so you can imagine how unhappy we were to have to stop. We had to be towed about 20 miles back to Truckee and should have paid $150 since we had the basic AAA membership which covers only 5 tow miles, but our wonderful tow driver went ahead and waived that for us.
We spent the night at the Truckee Donner Lodge worried about our car and if we were going to be able to make it down to San Jose to check out apartments. We only had a couple days to look as it was. Since the mechanic told us it would take a day or two to fix our car, Keri's wonderful Aunt Lori came and picked us up from Roseville and then drove us down to Fairfield, where we picked up Keri's parents car.
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| Donner Pass, where Sparky first overheated |
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| Truckee Donner lodge where we spent Wednesday night |
Keri's dad drove us back to Truckee on Tuesday, July 5th and we got only 60 miles away before the engine started overheating again. So this time it was about 1pm and we sat for an hour in the hot desert heat in the middle of nowhere (Nevada) and waited to be towed again. Thank goodness we smartened up and Matt had already upgraded our AAA membership just days ago.
Our tow driver, James, was very nice though. He told us all about how he lives at home with his parents again and had to started driving a tow truck after the economy killed his construction business. He spends his days off watching his little down syndrome brother and he worked on the Fourth of July because he felt bad that people would be left out on the highway. He is one that said he feels like a "hero of the highway".
James towed us 30 miles back to Reno where we waited another day for them to fully inspect the car. We checked in to the Sands Hotel for only $30 a night and it was really only worth that. We found out on Wednesday morning that Sparky's head gasket was blown. We had to bid adieu to Sparky until we can pull her back to San Jose with us in a month and we rented a car to get home. The rest of the trip went smoothly but we feel quite beat up and stressed out after such a long week.
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| Wadsworth, NV where Sparky overheated on the way home |
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| The Sands Hotel where we stayed in Reno |
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| Sparky in her finest days |
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| Sparky's fate now probably |
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