Travel with U-Haul and cat story - abbreviated version included for PopDaddy

[wishuponastarforever]

PopDaddy version:
drove
towed
home


We planned to leave 2am Thurday to drive from Charlotte, NC to Austin, TX with 5x10 uhaul filled with DD's stuff and in the car DH, myself and DD's cat.
DH had the car checked for 50,000 mile check up a few days earlier so we thought we were set.
When we planned to leave, the battery was dead. We both assumed the trailer had drained the battery so we charged from my car and off we went. We just thought we would detach the wires in the evening when we stopped for the night so the battery would not drain again.

We got as far as Pearl, Ms when the radio went off, along with the air conditioner. We got off I20 and stopped at UHaul. The trailer was a very old version and modifications had been done by UHaul in Charlotte to wire the trailer. The guy in Mississippi was very nice. He too thought something was wrong with the wiring as he had never seen any other trailer wired the way ours had been done. This just convinced us that the trouble was with the wiring. He worked on it awhile and was satisfied so off we went.

We got as far as Bolton, MS when the radio/airconditioner went off again. It was boiling hot and we could not roll down the windows either. DH got off the exit and the car died - fortunately we coasted into a small service station. The people were extremely nice and allowed me to put my DD's cat in the airconditioned office so she would be OK. I was terrified of the heat with the poor kitty. A friend of theirs drove up who owned a car supply store. He went to his store and returned with a new battery. He charged us and off we went.

This time we made it as far as Raysville, LA - you guessed it radio/airconditioner went off and it was even hotter this time. We exited and the car died. DH pulled off to the side of the road.

There was a small service station within walking distance - again I took DD's cat inside so she would not perish. I called AAA and they towed us with the UHaul to Monroe, LA to a Ford dealership. We spent the night and the next day we had a new alternater. It never was the trailer - how dumb are we???? The people at the Ford dealership moved us to the front of their list as they knew we were trying to get to Austin. They were just wonderful there.

We met alot of very nice people who really went out of their way to help us -Thursday was a very long(16 hours) and hot day but all things considered it could have been alot worse. I not only love the beautiful country we live it - I love Americans- we may bicker and disagree but when the going gets tough, we are generally willing to help each other and I am grateful.

Any other road weary stories out there?

 

[Mimi Q]

Bless your heart. That sounds like a miserable road trip. Glad you encountered nice folks to help you out along the way. My two cats would have been freaking out.

 

[catsrule]

I read the Pop Daddy version.

 

[ahutton]

We moved in a Uhaul once, with our cat on a leash. Never again. Hope DD loves Austin as much as we do!!!

 

[wishuponastarforever]

Originally posted by ahutton
We moved in a Uhaul once, with our cat on a leash. Never again. Hope DD loves Austin as much as we do!!!

Never again for us either!!!!
DD LOVES Austin - so do we. Her only problem is she is an Aggie in UT land

Her older sister is a UT grad so she is used to the ribbing.

 

[FroggyinArk]

you were broke down and towed with in an hours driove from here. the guys at ford in monroe are pretty nice, you just got lucky in rayville. we used to stop there on way to and from jackson, was the rudest town ever. we live 1 hour due north out of monroe

 

[Serena]

Something like this happened when I went to the Chicago meet a few years ago. My car totally died within a couple miles of the meet. I could see the water tower above the mall, but couldn't get there. Luckily where it died was at an intersection beside a gas station. I also had a sheriff's car behind me. He helped push me to the gas station.

It took a few hours, a AAA tow to Pep Boys and a lot of help from Dan and especially Brisully. Three hundred dollars for a new alternator, a few hours, and some sweat later, I was finally at the meet.
The Pep Boys was right beside the mall where the meet was. And Dan was my ride.

 

[kimber79]

Sorry to hear of your travel troubles! Glad to hear it all ended up okay in the end!!