Category: family

As soon as the kids learned of Janet’s passing, they converged on Alaska Airlines from their respective abodes in Seattle and flew into our nearest airport at Walla Walla.  With their flight touching down at 6:20pm, hints of darkness were appearing, along with the already hazy skies from the forest fires to the West.

The chosen conveyance, the ever-trusty Dodge Caravan, veteran of countless trips to Portland, Boise, Seattle, Montana, Iowa, etc., suddenly resisted forward movement as Ivi took the wheel for the return trip.  A call to AAA ensued.  We learned of anticipated delays for service due to not only the holiday weekend backlog, but the matter of a regulation that restricts towing across the Washington – Oregon border to only five certified tow services in the state as well.  Furthermore, we found that tow trucks cannot legally carry more than two passengers — we numbered three — unless a crew cab was available.  And we were told that no such towing solution would be available for at least three hours, if at all.

We only got as far as the frontage road just beyond the airport and near the freeway on-ramp.  And there we sat.  Nik and Ivi both worked their phones, seeking solutions ranging from connecting with a Walla Walla college friend of Ivi’s to trying to find an available motel (Labor Day Weekend — fat chance!), almost to the point of exhausting their phone batteries.  Finally, repeated communication with AAA yielded the possibility of a legal tow that could come from central Washington, albeit some 90 miles away, with an ETA of no earlier than 10:30pm.

During our three hours of roadside waiting, three people stopped and offered help, ranging from local transportation to joining them for dinner. While we had to demur, our faith in humanity was heightened a bit.  Then sprinklers came on (we found that we were at the edge of a golf course adjoining the airport) and caught us off guard.

Eventually our tow rig arrived from a city west of Yakima and Kennewick and we were underway just before 11pm for another 90-mile haul, homeward.

Some pluses of that leg of the trip:  The truck was a new state-of-the-art model with only 3000 miles on it so far — it included luxury seating, four USB ports for charging our smartphones, two touch screens and a mildly incredible array of electronica.  And the tow driver was a fascinating conversationalist — we learned that he was the president of a towing association and had just attended a conference on the future of trucking; he regaled us with information on driverless trucks, electronic roadways and all manner of industry future that I had never thought of, but which he believed would be coming sooner than we might expect.  He also told us of his earlier life as a farmer and cattle-raiser, and how he got into trucking via his experience transporting cattle around the western U.S.  He turned out to be familiar with La Grande (and just about every other place within a 300 – 500 mile radius) and said that he would, after he had dropped the mini-van at our local mechanic of choice and deposited us personally at our residence, drive directly back to his home base, about 180 miles distant.  All in a night’s work.

Some documentation follows.  First, the prelude to meeting Nik and Ivi as their plane arrived:

Then the three hours of roadside waiting:

And here’s another taste of our (mis)adventure, complete with sprinkler audio:

And the return trip via tow truck:

[rDay 892]