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It
was bound to happen & finally did on that fateful 90+ degree
day in July of 1999. After 3 years of faithful service, our bus
blew a head gasket just 12 short miles away from our destination
of Tuxedo Junction in Danbury, CT. While we were faced with
several decisions, one thing was for certain: we WERE definitely
doing the
gig! Thanks to being a proud member of AAA, I had the bus towed to
the club, where after all the aggravation & roasting in the
sun for 1 1/2 hours waiting for the tow truck (AAA told me the
local company was extremely busy that day & to be patient), we played one of
our most powerful & energetic shows ever.
Getting the bus home was
another story, as the stunad driver (who I will
call Cletus for the rest of this story) from the VERY ironically
named "Reliable" Towing Service that AAA dispatched was
absolutely worthless. It only took him 3 1/2 hours to arrive after
the initial request for a tow truck was made (I called AAA 5 times while waiting to ask
them where this genius was) & when Cletus found out he had to
bring us 3+ hours, he gave Jeff & I a redneck attitude
& told us we weren't covered by AAA in CT &
would have to pay $150 cash for every 30 minutes we were on the
road! Jeff & I quickly decided that we would take our chances
& drive the 12 miles back to NY state, call AAA in NY & request the same
towing service that towed us to the club.
As the head gasket was totally shot, every drop of antifreeze
& water went from the radiator, through the blown seal &
right out the exhaust! The bus looked like we had a smoke screen button turned on
going down the highway &
surprisingly (& VERY luckily!) we made it back to the same
spot where we broke down earlier & used the very strategically
placed phone on the side of the road to call! When the towing service arrived 1 1/2 hours
later(!!), we were on our way back home! The bus was repaired
& was sold to a guy that just drives it locally around town,
but is sorely missed!
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