TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Today being my day off work, it was my last day to make final preparations for the big trip next week. Lots of little errands gathering last-minute items, such as picking up (and installing) my newly-modified safari top and duster cover, having the Jeep's tires balanced and rotated, and so on.
To cap it all off, today I had planned to pick up Mark's car hauler. He was very gracious to loan it to me, and I was sincerely grateful for it since I don't yet have the cash gathered together to buy one of my own. He informed me that he forgot to bring his ratchet straps up from Spring City, so buying a set of my own was another morning errand.
Anyway, we met this afternoon and I dragged his trailer back to my house. My shiny new trailer brake controller seemed to be working well, which made me happy. When I arrived at home, I noticed one of the forward side marker lights had its wire hanging down (clearly indicating it wasn't working), and I figured repairing that for him was the least I could do. While I was at it, I decided to verify the proper operation of the remaining lights on his trailer just on general principle. I'm glad I did, because right off the bat I noticed the brake lights and turn signals weren't working... at all. The right parking light did work barely due to a poor ground connection caused by the light housing being very loosely attached to the trailer; the left parking light actually illuminated the brake light filament by mistake. I made these discoveries one at a time, and before I knew it I was ripping into the wiring at various points in an attempt to fix, well, all of it. (What can I say? I'm a good friend.)
As I was making yet another trip between the Suburban and the back of the trailer to test a specific connection, for the first time I glanced down at the left side tires. I was greeted by this:
Ho. Lee. Sheet.
By this point, reality was setting in. I had resurrected the parking lights (mostly) but the brake lights were still AWOL. I had Mark's spare tire, but it was in fact quite bald. I wasn't going to have enough time to over come all these challenges. To top it off, my wife arrived home from work and, being her usual inquisitive self, was soon fully informed of the situation. She asked me what I was going to do. I told her I saw three possibilities:
#1: take Mark's trailer anyway and pray I don't (a) get a ticket or (b) crash and burn in a horrible manner
#2: leave the trailer and Suburban at home, just drive the Jeep and pray I don't catastrophically break it
#3: run out and buy myself a shiny new trailer
She: "How do you feel about just driving the Jeep?"
Me: "I could do that; I just hope I don't have a break down on a trail."
She: "Would you really prefer to tow the Jeep?"
Me: "Yes, of course; that's why I bought the Suburban."
She: "Why not go buy yourself a trailer? You were planning to get one in a month or two anyway."
Me: "If I bought a trailer tomorrow, I'd have to charge it--I don't have the cash yet."
She: "Well, it sounds like the best solution. I think you should do it."
And that's why I'll be scrambling to purchase a car hauler tomorrow.
To cap it all off, today I had planned to pick up Mark's car hauler. He was very gracious to loan it to me, and I was sincerely grateful for it since I don't yet have the cash gathered together to buy one of my own. He informed me that he forgot to bring his ratchet straps up from Spring City, so buying a set of my own was another morning errand.
Anyway, we met this afternoon and I dragged his trailer back to my house. My shiny new trailer brake controller seemed to be working well, which made me happy. When I arrived at home, I noticed one of the forward side marker lights had its wire hanging down (clearly indicating it wasn't working), and I figured repairing that for him was the least I could do. While I was at it, I decided to verify the proper operation of the remaining lights on his trailer just on general principle. I'm glad I did, because right off the bat I noticed the brake lights and turn signals weren't working... at all. The right parking light did work barely due to a poor ground connection caused by the light housing being very loosely attached to the trailer; the left parking light actually illuminated the brake light filament by mistake. I made these discoveries one at a time, and before I knew it I was ripping into the wiring at various points in an attempt to fix, well, all of it. (What can I say? I'm a good friend.)
As I was making yet another trip between the Suburban and the back of the trailer to test a specific connection, for the first time I glanced down at the left side tires. I was greeted by this:
Ho. Lee. Sheet.
By this point, reality was setting in. I had resurrected the parking lights (mostly) but the brake lights were still AWOL. I had Mark's spare tire, but it was in fact quite bald. I wasn't going to have enough time to over come all these challenges. To top it off, my wife arrived home from work and, being her usual inquisitive self, was soon fully informed of the situation. She asked me what I was going to do. I told her I saw three possibilities:
#1: take Mark's trailer anyway and pray I don't (a) get a ticket or (b) crash and burn in a horrible manner
#2: leave the trailer and Suburban at home, just drive the Jeep and pray I don't catastrophically break it
#3: run out and buy myself a shiny new trailer
She: "How do you feel about just driving the Jeep?"
Me: "I could do that; I just hope I don't have a break down on a trail."
She: "Would you really prefer to tow the Jeep?"
Me: "Yes, of course; that's why I bought the Suburban."
She: "Why not go buy yourself a trailer? You were planning to get one in a month or two anyway."
Me: "If I bought a trailer tomorrow, I'd have to charge it--I don't have the cash yet."
She: "Well, it sounds like the best solution. I think you should do it."
And that's why I'll be scrambling to purchase a car hauler tomorrow.
