I can't sleep at all. The walls are paper thin and the guy next door is snoring and the cat is meowing constantly. It seriously sounds like there is a cat in my room. I actually get up and look for a cat at one point. Then I remember that cats will probably want attention and if there was a cat in the room it would have probably made its presence known to me by now. There are random banging sounds coming from outside too and the place is right by train tracks. I don't mind train sounds but it is really loud. I am not feeling particularly safe. And of course there is the whole truck issue that I am worked up about.
Around 4am, I finally fall into an uneasy sleep. I dream about trucks. Mostly T Rex. Ok, I might have some attachment issues. I wake up at 6:30 and kind of half sleep until 8. The shop opens at 8. I wait expectantly by my phone for two hours. Ok, what is going on? I decide to call. I apologize for being OCD and ask what is up. They don't have good news. Me rear axle is cracked along with the bad wheel bearing/seal, and the pinion seal. Greatttt. They are still trying to get something together for me so I wait. I take a shower. I go to get dressed and remember I have one mostly clean shirt left. Sweet. I only packed assuming I would be gone for a day.... I look in my bag and my shirt is not there. I remember that I left it in my truck. Damn it. Oh well, I pick the least smelly shirt I have. This is a tough choice, the shirt I skied in or the shirt I went hiking in? I opt for the skiing shirt. I then go to dry my hair. The plug in the bathroom won't work so I dry my hair in the main room kneeling on the floor. This is fun. When I am done, I call my mom and tell her the news. As I finish my conversation about what I should do, get it fixed or sell and buy a new truck, I start sobbing at the thought of selling T Rex. Great.
I do something or other for a little bit (while crying a little) and then get another call from the repair shop. I try to not sound like I have been crying. This time it is good news. They can't find a used axle and new ones are ridiculously expensive but they have a specialist who can weld it for me. Awesome. They quote me at about $1000 for all the work. They need to replace all of the seals and the rear brake that is now coated in gear oil. Ok, not great but it could be worse.
I call my mom again to tell her the good news. I get off the phone and start packing my stuff up. It is almost noon and they want me out by 12:30. As I pack, I get a knock on the door. It's housekeeping. Sorry, I am leaving soon! I ask her to give me 5 minutes. I shove all of my stuff in my bag and leave. I drop off my key at the office and am happy to be gone.
I look up the Flagstaff Coffee Company on my phone. Seems like as good a place as any to hang out until the truck is done. I start walking with my backpack and computer bag. Sweet, walking around a town I don't know with my expensive looking computer. I walk a lot further than I think I need to. I really should have found it by now. I check my phone. I have walked the wrong way. I walk back the way I came feeling kind of dumb. I walk for a ways and check my map again. I have now walked past the supposed location. I definitely did not see it. I walk back and find Flagstaff Brewing Company. Eh close enough, coffee, beer, same thing? turns out the coffee place is behind the bar.
I walk in and sit at the bar. I order a latte. I want coffee today! The bartender informs me he knows nothing about coffee so my order might be messed up. Well it is easy. Just a latte. Nothing special at all. A few minutes later, my latte is successfully delivered to me. I sip on it and order a cheeseburger for lunch. While I wait, I pull out my postcards and start writing them. Yes, I am so cool I go to the bar at noon, order coffee, and write postcards.
My food comes and I set my postcards aside for a while. It has been a while since I have had a cheeseburger. When I say a while, I mean over a week ago. I finish my cheeseburger and go back to my postcards. I am almost done and try to decide what to do next. The only other thing I have entertainment wise is my Gameboy. Yup. I am about to pull out my Gameboy at a bar and play some Pokemon. I don't even care. My poor truck is broken and I gotta hang out somewhere until it is fixed.
I am saved from playing Pokemon at a bar by my phone ringing. It is the repair shop and there is a problem. It is so bad they are sending someone to pick me up. Fuck fuck fuck. Poor T Rex. :( I pay my bill and head outside to wait for my chauffeur/mechanic. As I wait, I call my mom. No answer this time. Oh well, she does have a job and all that requires her attention at times. My ride shows up and I hop in. He tries to explain the situation. Something about the axle being cracked all the way around. That doesn't sound good at all. As he talks my mom calls back. I decline the call and send her a text. "Truck bad will call soon."
We arrive at the shop and he takes me to my T Rex which is now on a lift missing his rear wheels, brakes, everything really. He pulls out a flashlight and shows me the axle tube. It is indeed completely cracked all the way around where the frame sits on the axle. It has probably been like this for a while actually. Ignorance is bliss. The mechanic explains that in that condition the axle might snap. Possibly as soon as the truck is off the lift. Maybe never. Who knows. Regardless, it is definitely not safe like this. At some point he says the word "shit" followed by an "excuse my language". Really, don't worry about it! I don't mind. He also explains that the weld won't be strong enough to fix that much damage. The weld just won't work with all of the gear oil seeped into the metal. Ok, I believe that. He also mentions that the wheel bearing was the most fucked up bearing he has ever seen and the axle shaft going to it is bent too. OK, more stuff to fix. This information is received with a tirade of profanity by me. Really, I don't mind you saying shit Mr. Mechanic.
I ask him what the options are. Well, there is a $1400 new axle housing I can get from Toyota and there is a used axle in California that they can hopefully get by the end of the week. I don't like either option. I ask if there is any way to get it drivable to get it back to Phoenix where I can get a better trade in deal. Well, not really. I ask him how likely it would be that I would die if the axle snap while I was driving. He said at highway speeds things wouldn't be looking so good for me.
At this point I have a truck that can't be reasonably fixed in the foreseeable future and a $1000+ bill for the labor that has already been done on it. (axles sent off for new wheel bearings, pinion seal, etc) That bill is only going to go up. I again ask if there is any reasonable way to sell it or trade it in. Apparently, Flagstaff is so small that I won't get shit for it here. I ask him to give me a minute and call my mom back. I tell her the situation and that I am probably just going to sell it for what I can at this point. I hate to do it but the repair is starting to look unreasonable. And I know of several other problems that aren't bad now but will be in the $1000+ range to fix whenever they get worse. She agrees with my logic. I eventually hang up to ponder things. If I were at home I would just hang onto it and get the parts to fix it... but I am not anywhere near home.
I go back to the mechanic. He had mentioned he knows people that work on cars. I ask him about them. He asks how much I want for it. Well, usually I would say 5 grand in it's normal wonderfully running and driving condition but in it's current state I have no idea. We go to the computer and look up the bluebook value. Just over $5000 in excellent condition... just under $3000 in fair condition. I guess it is currently in fair condition... boo. I tell him $3000. He makes a few calls. They are interested... until they hear how many miles are on it. Bummer. Eventually, one of the other mechanics mentions he might be interested. We end up on an over all price of about $2800. Sadly, part of that is me not having to pay my $1000+ bill. Oh well. I would rather not pay that anyway.... I am kind of out of options at this point so I accept. At least I know T Rex will have a good home and will be fixed and driven again.... and not taken to a junkyard and crushed like a dealer would probably do.
I call my mom again and tell her the situation. Given the information, she agrees that I did the best I could. I then call Hanna. Ummmm hi. What are you doing tonight??? Wanna take a drive to Flagstaff? Um, I no longer own a vehicle. Because she is amazing she agrees to come get me. She gets out of class early and leaves Phoenix. ETA 6:30.
Now I have to deal with things. I call my mom again. Please help! I need to buy a new truck. Preferably a new one so I need a loan and I don't know how to do that. She explains things to me and I spend the next few hours on the phone. USAA and Alaska USA asking about loans, my dad so he can deal with insurance, Theresa so I can get my title for T Rex sent to me so I can officially hand it over, let Nic know that I won't be meeting him in LA this weekend as I have no vehicle....
In the middle of all of this, I also start unloading all of my shit from T Rex. I have most of my travel stuff in there still. Luckily, I left my huge suitcase at Hanna's. I pull all of the stuff I keep in the cab out and strip him down. I show his new owner the random quirks he has. He seems impressed with all my custom interior work. Sweet, enjoy it buddy. I cry some again. He has been such a good truck!
Eventually, I have everything as taken care of as possible. I find the waiting room and start looking at new Tacomas in the Phoenix area. Ugh, most of them are 2wd. And even fewer are manual. My only requirements are 4wd and manual. I might have to give one of those up. It is not going to be the 4wd option either.....
Around 6:30, Hanna arrives. Hiii!!! Hanna, I need a hug. She hates hugs. Bummer. I get the possibly most unenthusiastic hug ever. Oh well, it works. I then unload T Rex and put everything in her car. Surprisingly, everything fits with the exception of my skis. I end up leaving them in the truck. I have to come back with the title anyway and it's not like the truck is going far before then....
We drive back to her house. I babble about my Flagstaff trip and T Rex issues and inform her that even if she don't talk much and doesn't really like people that she's a great friend. And then thank her a million times for coming to get me. Hotels get more expensive on weekends and I can't do much to fix my situation by myself.
We make it back and I unload all of my stuff from her car and put it in the garage which is thankfully, empty. She doesn't like having lots of stuff either. Quite excellent. I get my stuff taken care of and come inside. "Anna, you have a plan for stuff like this." Well, I try to. I did have a plan in case my truck broke. However, I did not have a plan that involved parts inavailability and excessive costs. And see, other than you driving 400 miles to get me and me selling my truck for wayyy less than I put into it and it is worth, everything worked out so far!
I then proceed to do my laundry and look at new Tacomas online. I am pretty excited about having clean clothes and think I may have found "the one". It has all the options I would like to have and is 4wd. The price is pretty good, it's a 2009 with 40,000 miles and it is bright blue!!! My only complaint is that it is automatic. It would appear that there are only 3 manual 4x4s in the area though and they are all way out of my price range. Bummer. I am going to miss my manual. A lot. Well, I guess the sports car I will someway own will have a manual in it......
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