Sleeping near the Enemy

Some people just can't let a little thing go.

Day 6:    After leaving the home of Mary Soft Heart (Chante Cocola) near Fort Bridger, WY it was my intention to drive to Battle Mountain, NV, which was a very small town along the I-80 corridor.  It wasn’t an easy trip because there was both mountainous terrain and then desert in between.  And, I would have to negotiate Salt Lake City.  It would be a demanding trip both physically and psychologically.  Battle Mountain was a place to get some rest, it was the in-between city, between where I was now in Fort Bridger, WY and my ultimate western-most destination in Lodi, California.    We had 410 miles to cover, and we thought we would be able to make it in about 6 and one half hours.   We expected to pass near to the Great Salt Lake, and Bonneville Flats.  We weren’t expecting any problems on the road.  And, much to our chagrin, there was absolutely nothing but open, maybe somewhat hostile, territory.  It was just me, Robin and the crimson metallic red painted Malibu.  It was a great ride.  The leather seat covers inside and the Navigator, and the Cruise Control would make the journey a very pleasant one.  We just sailed along until we decided to exit the I-80 for gas and a break somewhere west of Salt Lake City but definitely east of the desert.  Never go out on the desert freeway without having a full tank of gas, and all fluids up to their maximum allowable levels, and all four tires set for desert driving, not to full, but just the right amount of air pressure so that the stresses of eighty to ninety mile per hour driving isn’t excessive.  You wouldn’t want a couple of tires to explode due to excessive pressure inside the tire.

I, of course, had never been to the Bonneville Salt Flats, but I knew I would be passing very close to them.  It was a place where land speed records had been made and challenged for maybe eighty years.  Back to the days of Craig Breedlove racing the Spirit of America land plane across the Salt Flats at over 526 miles per hour, achieving his all-time fastest run at 600.6mph on November 15, 1965.  The fastest speed ever to be achieved came on October 15, 1997 when Andy Green roared down the flats at a ‘supersonic’ 760.343 mph at a one kilometer distance, and 760.635 mph at a one mile distance.  So, the Bonneville Salt Flats have an historic place in the achievement of land speed records.  That, I thought would be an interesting place to see.   The Breedlove team is working on the Spirit of America III, a vehicle using a Jet engine that produces 45,000 horsepower, or 22,650 pounds of thrust. 

That is a lot of thrust considering the three-wheeled jet                     

without wings weighs in at approximately 9,000 pounds. 

That yields a thrust to weight ratio of 2.5 to one. 

That is what accounts for the fact that this newest version of the Spirit of America is said to be capable of land speed in excess of 1,000 miles per hour.  The current record set by Andy Green of Great Britain has existed without interruption for nineteen years.

…………………………………………………….

Somewhere along the way, a black 2014 Chevrolet Corvette roared past me on I-80 west of the Bonneville Salt Flats.  It passed along side just inches from my Malibu, and just as it passed me, it made an abrupt adjustment back into the lane I was in.  I had to jam on my brakes to prevent hitting the car.  All I saw was a streak of black flash past me and then in front of me.  As I braked, I momentarily lost control of the Malibu, but it was enough and I went across the shoulder of the road and into the sand.  I tried to reach 9-1-1 to report the incident and request a wrecker, but initially got a busy signal.  On the third try, I got an operator and relayed the facts of the encounter.  I told them where I was and that I was in the sand off I-80 about ten miles west of the Bonneville Salt Flats exit.  This, of course happened about high noon in the desert, and it was at least one hundred and twenty degrees by now, and there was no shade.  I got out of the car after turning the engine off, and looked at the tires on the right side of the car.  Both of them were up to the axle in sand.  I had made three attempts to slowly exit, but I had gotten only deeper in the sand. 

Around 2:40 p.m., I finally saw the wrecker pulling around me just in front of my Malibu.  It was going to hook up and pull me out of the sand.  About two minutes later, a sheriff’s car pulled up and parked behind where my car was stuck deep in the sand. 

The deputy sheriff asked me if I could describe the car that forced me off the road.  I told him I could tell him the license plate, which was ‘4U2HIRE.’  I told him the tag was on a Black, late model Chevrolet Corvette with a rather elaborate airfoil attached above the trunk deck at the rear of the car.  There was, so far, no damage to the Malibu from the incident, at least as far as I knew.

The wrecker hooked up to the Malibu and within five minutes of arrival had pulled me out of the sand.  Until he pulled the Malibu out of the sand, I had no idea if there was any damage to the car that would prevent me from safely continuing on with my trip.  That’s when he asked me if I wanted to hear the bad news first or the really bad news first.  Not being able to discern why it would make a difference as to which news I received first he just began to tell me.  Well, first he said, I need $250 for the tow.  To which I told him I did not have cash, and besides I had requested a wrecker service that would accept insurance.  The wrecker operator said he was only teasing me, and asked for my insurance card.  He said that the fee really was $250 because he had to drive nearly 50 miles one way just to get to me, and because he had to hook on to pull me out.    

I asked him why that mattered, and he said because when we hook up to a car for towing or pulling, the wrecker company’s insurance carrier would assess them a higher rate.  Then, he said I am sorry to have to tell you that your Malibu is not in drivable condition.  He told me that there was damage to both the suspension and to the steering, and that I most likely had a loss of oil from a damaged oil pan.   He said I would have to have the car towed into town for repair.  He asked me if I wanted it taken to a Chevrolet dealer, and told him that would be the best place to take it.  Unfortunately, he said, the closest one is back in Salt Lake City.

The Sheriff’s deputy finished taking my report on the incident and gave me a report reference number and said he was leaving, and that an all-points bulletin would be issued for the ‘Vet’ and its owner.  He asked for my driver’s license and a phone number.  And, with that he was back in his patrol unit calling in the information.  The hunt was on for that corvette.  Whoever had been behind the wheel of that car had done more than $4,500 worth of damage to my car.  The Malibu was no longer drivable for three different reasons.  It would take the sheriff’s department only seventeen more hours to find the man and the car.  But, their attempts to arrest him turned into a fiasco in a matter of minutes.

As for me, I hopped into the cab of the wrecker and with the Malibu in tow, we headed toward the closest town that had a Chevrolet dealership.  The closest Chevy dealer was in Salt Lake City.  Miller Chevrolet had an opening for the Malibu available immediately.  We told them we were an hour west headed in their direction.  We arrived at the dealership sixty-eight minutes later.  The Malibu was disengaged from the wrecker and pulled into the shop within a few minutes.  The labor was estimated at 21.7 hours at $95.00 per hour ($2,061.50).  A couple new McPherson struts installed at an additional $375.00.  A new oil pan was an additional $455.00.  But the big item was the Steering.  The Malibu had crossed into the sand over several rocky outcroppings, the damage to the steering mechanism had been substantial as the wheels had been racked.  The Rack and Pinion steering mechanism had been stripped, and the cost of the repair was $1105.00, in addition the front end would have to be aligned for another $100.00.  Total cost of the repair was $4,036.50.  My insurance paid all but the $500.00 deductible, pursuant to subrogation against the individual in the other vehicle that forced me off the road. 

Exactly, fifty minutes later, the sheriff’s office called to inform me that the individual and the corvette had been found.  They had arrested the owner for leaving the scene of an accident, and since I had a go-pro in the window, everything had been recorded.  The Corvette was impounded.  The man who had caused the accident had ultimately told the sheriff that he had been distracted by his child in the backseat and had not realized that he had cut the car he had just passed off and forced it to wreck in the sand.  Not knowing that he had just caused an accident, he had just continued on.  The unfortunate thing about the situation was that the corvette was partly owned by the man’s father. 

His father was so indignant that his son had been turned in, and even worse that his son had been arrested.  He was also extremely angry when he found out that the damage to the other car was over $4,000, and because his son did not have insurance, that he was on the hook for the damages.  He was not just angry, he was hostile and considering revenge.  Not because his son had done this to him, but because some yahoo had turned his son in.  His son who was now in jail, and using such a great lack of prudence and responsibility, had driven his corvette so recklessly as to wreck another car out on the open highway.  Because of how the accident had happened, and the auto insurance he had, he was going to have to pay for the damages since his son had caused an accident and had left the scene: a violation of the law known as ‘Hit and Run.’  And because of that, his insurance would not cover the damages.  He was livid.  It would take him an entire year, if not more, of working second jobs to recoup the loss.  He determined that he would not just sit back and take it.  He was going to get his revenge for himself and for his son.

After, the wrecker had reached the dealership, and after the repair order had been completed and the insurance information attached, the Malibu was in the shop.  Papa Mike had to find a place to stay.  Fortunately, there was a Red Rider Motel just down the road, and the dealership delivered him to the motel.  There to wait in ignominy until the Malibu was ready to travel again.  It would take at least two days.  If only that were all PaPa Mike had to worry about.  Had he known what was coming, he might never have stayed that last night at the Red Rider Motel.  But, when the dealership had called to inform him the Malibu was ready, he had to go down to pay his deductible.  By the time that was done, daylight had turned to nightfall, and he didn’t want to drive after dark.  The motel seemed glad to have a renter for one more night.  PaPa Mike decided that a good night’s rest would put him in good position for the last leg of his journey to California wine country.  No, not the Napa Valley, but California’s Central Valley.  PaPa Mike was ready to get one more night’s rest before resuming his journey west.

PaPa Mike could not know that in the room adjoining his room was a man that had a big, fat grudge and a nasty disposition.  He would never know how the man had found him, but it was a night he would rather forget.  He had fallen asleep at 10:30 p.m., ready to get some great sleep.  He was sawing logs almost immediately.  His sleep period would come to a rather abrupt end at 3:49 a.m., when the man next door burst through the connecting door on his side of the room.  The door had shattered into a thousand pieces, and since the door was directly across from the foot of his bed, more than half of those pieces, big and small, landed on him.  He had a face full of sharp, small pieces of wood some that would be the equivalent of lances sticking in his forehead, his cheeks, his chin and even into his neck.  More than five dozen such pieces were sticking into him.  He had been fortunate that none of them struck his eyes. 

One little thing got in the way of his marauding next door neighbor, he hadn’t considered that was where PaPa Mike always put his baggage.  On this particular night, PaPa Mike had also placed a desk chair there so that if the door came open that the door knob would catch on the top panel of the chair’s back.  The result was that the three hundred pound invader had tripped on the chair after it had been knocked over by the force of the entry into PaPa Mike’s room.  When he tripped over the chair, his left foot had twisted between the two back panels of the chair, and when his foot came down onto the floor, it had hit the floor at an angle.  The angular force of the falling man brought his left foot onto the floor as he fell forward.  The result was a badly shattered left ankle.  The fall forward was unbalanced and out of control, and not being able to see in the darkness, he had hit his head on the footboard of the bed which rendered him unconscious.  PaPa Mike had picked up the phone and called the front desk asking for them to call the police to his room immediately, that the man in the adjoining room had broken through the door between the two rooms and had possibly broken his neck.  He required medical attention and they should also call the police.

Indeed the man had shattered his left ankle, and had also severely damaged two of the vertebrae in his neck.  He was removed from the room on a stretcher, and taken to the hospital.  This vengeful man had not only broken into his room with the intent to do PaPa Mike bodily harm, but had also done a lot of damage to the Malibu.  The man had keyed every piece of sheet metal on the car, poured sugar into the gas tank and had punctured all four tires.  More damage to file an insurance claim over.  The man was later arrested and charged with Assault and Battery, criminal vandalism, and an Intent to cause bodily harm to another human being.  After he was arrested, he was charged with criminal conspiracy with his son who had also attempted to do the same thing.  Together, the father and son duo had done more than $7,000 dollars in damages to the Malibu.  In addition to that, PaPa Mike had to go the Emergency Room at the local hospital to be treated for over one hundred puncture wounds to his face and body.  An Emergency Room and overnight stay in the hospital that would cost another $4,000.  This father and son pair had cost PaPa Mike more than $11,000 in less than 36 hours.  He would never know why they had chosen to do these things to him.  After all, it was the son that set all this in motion when he non chalantly passed by his Malibu and had forced him off the road.

Well, that is my tall tale for today.

And, now for the Moral of the Story:

                                I once dreamed a dream that lasted all night,

                                And no matter what I did, or try as I might,

                                I could not understand why I had no sight,

                                 I tossed and turned, and much I tried to fight,

                                The unconscious state, but without delight,

                                But when I did wake, I smiled and felt right,

                                That I was happily aware that I wasn’t uptight,

To know that I was healthy, safe and alright,

                                And I could easily stand up to my full height,

                                And, to have all my faculties in the full daylight.