The goodness of ordinary people; my Hades weekend

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The most recent Nor'easter left me without power in CT for most of the week; not a super big issue going home to a 35F house @ night. So Saturday came around and I decided to go up to Southern Maine to shovel the roof off our family summer home; (news flash; unheated homes just build snow unless removed) Ride up in the B2300, get down to the house in the woods and shovel the root off;

Jump in the B2300 to go home and it is a no start; so it is about 2:30PM on Saturday and I'm now planning how this is going to work.

I hatch a plan of calling AAA having them tow me to South Portland (20 miles) and riding with the driver; taking a taxi to Portland and taking a train back to CT.

Call AAA and indicate I will be riding with the driver.

Meanwhile some work is being done on a house further in the woods and the work guys decide to back a tractor trailer back to the main drag; I would NEVER have guessed a trailer could have even fit down there; they commence backing and get stuck. The guy from AAA shows up and decides he isn't "driving down there" since he will get stuck and there is a TT blocking the road; he reports to dispatcher 'the road isn't plowed' and calls me and tells me he isn't doing the job; the road is 'about 7/8' of a lane wide so there is no 'getting by anyone'

I call the tow guy and tell him the road is now clear (which it was @ the time) and he says he will call the dispatcher to see if he should do the job anyway and says he will call me back; he does neither and goes home.

In the meantime the workguys have hooked up a tow strap to a 4WD titan and commence pulling the tractor trailer up the icy part of the road and onto the sanded part. During the pull I wander over and ask if they would come back and drag my B2300 to the main drag since AAA doesn't want to come down here with 2WD; They agree even tho it is a guys personal truck and I get AAA to dispatch the same guy indicating I will have my vehicle where he is comfortable getting it. Bear in mind I have always driving my 2300 down there and have never had an issue getting out. The storm went by DAYS ago. The road isn't getting plowed any better than it is. The work guys were not impressed that the tow guy wouldn't come down to pick up the vehicle. "This is freaking Maine" one of them said....

The guy from AAA shows up with a slider and then informs me he has his son in a booster seat and he can't take riders. (sort of contrary to what AAA asked me about)
So after some of my contemplation he rides off with my 2300 and I am sitting with wet pants, wet socks and it is 4:30PM The AAA guy I don't think was too happy about being called back to a job he initially refused.

Out comes the smart phone and I call Brian from Windham Taxi. While waiting for him, the work guys see me on their way home, stop and ask if I need a ride, "I am all set" I indicate. They seemed generally concerned about leaving a wet person sitting on the end of a camp road Brian shows up and drives me to Portland Transportation hub. Very nice guy; we ride in a 1997 Grand Marquis and spend a lot of time talking about oil and car maintenance (imagine that)

I grab a train ticket to Boston, and then realize I have to go from North Station to South and then take Amtrak to Old Saybrook.

I get to Boston, take a cab to South Station and then need to wait 8.5 hours for the train to CT. At 12 midnight South Station closes and only people with Amtrak tickets are allowed to stay. While preparing to close some of the food vendors, probably having to throw stuff out, roll around to the homeless people asking if they want anything; The guy near me grabs all the grapes, strawberries, blueberries and I'm thinking that is like $20 of fruit right there. I was somewhat impressed by the graciousness of the food vendor, he was actually 'talking up his offerings' like he was selling it, but he was just giving it away. He was just trying to make sure people get what they wanted.

12 midnight comes and the guy near me doesn't want to leave; the Amtrak and security guys indicated they will be calling the police.

While waiting for the police the Amtrak guy starts talking to the homeless guy, indicating he can get him into a shelter and a free ride there; apparently this is "a daily activity" for the people who manage the building; they already have phone #s and relationships to do this; the Amtrak guy 'somewhat' defuses the situation and comes back and gives me an update of the situation;

Get home to CT about 9:00am on Sunday where thankfully power has been restored.

I highly recommend a weekend like this lol
 
Sounds awful. Id complain to AAA. They must ensure to give you a ride. Unacceptable. Id make them cover the cost of your cab ride.
 
Wrecker company/AAA affiliate allows infants/toddlers to ride around in their wreckers (front seats, certainly air bag equipped)?? No way that is allowed, or even legal! That idiot deserves to be fired!
 
I worked in CT from 2001 to 2003. Those Nor'easters are no joke.

Glad you made it back home ok. That is one way to test your patience.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
so it is about 2:30PM on Saturday....Get home to CT about 9:00am on Sunday


That's a long time.

OK, so have you identified "holes" that could have been filled that would have prevented this situation?

I grew up in North Dakota - we had extensive winter emergency kits in each vehicle.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Wrecker company/AAA affiliate allows infants/toddlers to ride around in their wreckers (front seats, certainly air bag equipped)?? No way that is allowed, or even legal! That idiot deserves to be fired!
Splain not legal?
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
sounds like this is what happens when we are unprepared .


What would have been better preparation in this case?
Should the OP have flat towed the Yaris behind the Ranger (calling a spade a spade) just to make sure that he'd have something to drive home?
The OP was pretty well prepared although his backup plan depended heavily upon his cell phone.
 
Originally Posted By: Langanobob
Nice story. But what was wrong with your B2300?


Oil too thick.
grin.gif
 
I suspect it is the fuel pump; I got a note from mazda that I should not drive the vehicle because of the air bag, so perhaps I can get that repaired @ the dealer when they look at this issue. It is not the battery.

As for being prepared, I have AAA; they refused service on a publicly plowed road days after a storm; for those not in the know, Maine knows how to do snow removal in a serious way They also asked me if I would be riding with the driver, and I said I would be riding to S. Portland, yet they dispatch a guy who prohibits me. Maybe people probably think the Apollo 13 guys should have been more prepared.

I am not busting on AAA. I have to honor the drivers experience since I do not know anything about slider work; I do know, he didn't come down 1/3 mile on foot to access the situation; he heard the tractor trailer was stuck and just 'looked for a reason' not to do it. The truck was stuck on an include in somebody's driveway, not on the road. So he might have been 100% correct, but made no effort assess the situation other than a cursory look.

Quote:

OK, so have you identified "holes" that could have been filled that would have prevented this situation?


Definitely, and thanks for framing it that way. I wanted to solve this without engaging my neighbors whom I don't know that well; there are only a few since most homes are summer ones. My cell phone is actually given to me by my work (for personal use too) and first off I'll be the first to admit it saved my skin. The only charger I had was a cigarette lighter one, not too helpful after I abandon the truck. On the train from portland to boston, i booked the boston to CT leg which was necessary to be able to stay @ south station for 8 hours, else I would have been stuck outdoors. I never would have guessed a train station 'closes'

My truck starts 100s of times a years and only 3 times need to be in Maine.

Quote:

another storm coming! How do you like your yaris?


It is ok; i used to have an echo so basically a similar car; yari apparently have stiffer chassis and that is noticeable on the back roads; Has not seen snow time yet.
 
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That sucks!

I never lost power, but know a few people who lost it from the first storm and still have not gotten it back. They call Eversource daily and they still have no updates. This is what happens when power companies are staffed bare bones in order to increase profits.
 
Sounds like quite the adventure. While at times, probably frustrating and others heart warming.

Better than a Bravo network "drama" or "reality" show
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
That sucks!

I never lost power, but know a few people who lost it from the first storm and still have not gotten it back. They call Eversource daily and they still have no updates. This is what happens when power companies are staffed bare bones in order to increase profits.
Utilities rely on help from other utilities to help with restoring electrical service. Last summer utilities in Nebraska sent crews to both Texas and Florida. When an ice storm took down 345K transmission lines in December of 06, utility crews from other states were here helping to replace thousands of poles snapped by ice accumulations of up to one inch.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Wrecker company/AAA affiliate allows infants/toddlers to ride around in their wreckers (front seats, certainly air bag equipped)?? No way that is allowed, or even legal! That idiot deserves to be fired!

It's perfectly legal to have an infant seat in the front seat of a pickup, if there is no back seat or other place to put them. Pickups often have a switch to disable the passenger side airbag for just this reason. Last year I drove my infant daughter around in the front seat of my Ranger all winter long (with the airbag turned off, of course). My truck even has the LATCH tethers on the front seat that are specifically used for securing child seats.
 
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