$10,000 (pics) - Democratic Underground

Tobin S.

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Fri Jul-30-10 11:00 PM
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$10,000 (pics)

A wise trucker once told me to have $10,000 in the bank before you hit the road in your own truck. That's above your start-up costs and your down payment. The reasoning being is that you can weather just about any truck repair with that much money. About the most expensive thing to repair on a truck is a major overhaul of the engine, and at the time, about 12 years ago, $10,000 is about what it cost. I didn't listen to him when I bought my first truck and I almost lost my ass. I had to borrow my truck payment from my folks at one point; the only time I've ever borrowed money from my parents.

Well, I listened this time and I started out with 12 grand in the bank when I hopped on the road.

The reason why I'm telling you that is that I'm currently enduring my third breakdown in the first month since going into business for myself again. Nothing major, but this one left me on the side of the road. I broke down in the Middle of Nowhere, Montana. I know that because there was a sign next to me where I pulled the truck off at that said: Middle of Nowhere, Montana. Population: You. Actually, I was about mid way in between Crow Agency and Broadus, Montana on the eastern edge of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. I had driven through the Crow Indian Reservation. More on that in a minute. The closest repair shop with road service was 45 miles away in Broadus and they sent someone out to me. I had blown a coolant hose and simply couldn't go any further due to the truck overheating.

I think I'm going to name my truck either The Lemon Express or The Roadside Inn.

At least I had a nice view.

When you have three breakdowns in one week it will give you a bad case of Bitter Trucker Face.

These reservation homes were across the highway from me. As you can see, they are mostly in a state of disrepair and neglect. The reason for that more than likely being that the inhabitants live in a state of near poverty if not poverty. Most of the houses I saw on the reservations were like that.

This dog wandered across the highway to check out my truck. I thought she was a feral fog at first. She looked kind of like a coyote, but then I realized she was too small to be a coyote. Possibly a coyote mix I guess. I didn't see where she came from. She just kind of appeared out of nowhere, or before I noticed anyway.

She was very thin and walked up to me after I got out of the truck to pet her. Seeing that I had no food, she wasn't interested in petting. She then wandered off into the weeds and disappeared as mysteriously as she appeared. This is, btw, a very common way that truckers obtain pets. They are often adopted strays.

The guys who showed up to work on my truck didn't inspire much confidence, they appeared to be young and inexperienced in truck mechanical matters. But they got me patched up good enough to make it the 45 miles to the shop where a proper repair could be made. I managed to get a few more miles in before I ran out of hours so the day wasn't a total loss. I'm in Rapid City, South Dakota.