What’s one thing you don’t want to see on a road trip?
The “check engine” light.
I was on a two-lane farm road between the small towns of Graham and Bryson, Texas, when mine twinkled on and changed my weekend. I pulled over and heard liquid gushing from the car.
I was alone, it was Saturday evening, and that Verizon guy with the glasses and crowd of helpful people? Nowhere in sight.
Fortunately, I was only about 12 miles from the Wildcatter Ranch, where my husband and friends awaited me. And it had stopped raining. And a guy who was not an ax murderer stopped and let me use his phone.
We left my car roadside for the night, but then had to figure out what to do about it in a town where, as our waitress at dinner said, “Everything is closed on Sunday but churches.” (And Wal-Mart.) Then she gave us the names and phone numbers of two mechanics.
Ah, small towns. The nearest AAA tow truck was in Decatur, 70 miles away, so Sunday morning we spent two hours waiting for it by my car. The after-church rush passed, four cars in succession, and finally an enormous flatbed truck arrived (presumably it has to be big enough to pick up a lot of pick-ups ‘round these parts), driven by a nice young woman who works at a prison during the week and who managed the huge truck and my little car handily. We had her drop it at Blair’s Auto and Body Shop, which was closed, of course. And despite a sign touting 24-hour towing service, nobody answered the phone. We left the car, picked up lunch at Dairy Queen, returned to the Wildcatter and got in the hot tub. Whatever.
Ah, small towns. Monday morning, going-home day, we returned to Blair’s, now open and extremely busy. But they were friendly and sympathetic and squeezed my car in, fixing it for a fair price. Five hours later, we were homeward bound.
It wasn’t exactly the getaway we planned, but we got to know another side of this small town. And so, to Graham, Texas, I say: SA-LUTE!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7MkiQ9sLFQ&hl=en&fs=1&]
Ah, small towns. Why do today what we can put off til tomorrow. At least you had a nice side of the road to pull off on.