Stories From the Road: the South Dakota "Diesel Mechanic"

Well first, the final mileage tally from my most recent adventure:

 

Including detours, backtracking, random excursions and getting lost in New Mexico (several times), I somehow added over 400 miles to my original plan. Still small potatoes, I suppose. Damn the USA is a big ass fuckin' country...

The South Dakota "Diesel Mechanic"

I stopped for fuel somewhere in the California desert, and whenever you stop on a road trip, you sure as shit make sure to use the facilities (if they're available). On my way back out to the car, I decided I wanted some juice for the road. I'm not sure if I actually wanted it or if the subliminal messages on the labels were just preying on my overly-caffeinated slightly fatigued psyche, but nonetheless...

This is going to seem like a tangent, but trust me, it's going somewhere. I noticed none of the juices in the coolers had prices on them. I would have asked the guy behind the register, but there was a line. I usually make it a point not to buy something without knowing the price first, and something told me that they weren't marked for a reason, so I went next door to the neighboring gas station to try my luck there. I found the same thing: no prices. Later.

As I was walking across the lot, a man named Jerry (at least, that was the name on his work shirt) called out "Hey Flyers guy! (I was wearing a Flyers t-shirt...big surprise, right?) You got a flathead screwdriver by chance?" Jerry was driving a heavy-duty diesel pickup with South Dakota plates and towing a large box trailer. I never thought to ask what he was doing in California, and why he chose to ask me out of all the people there (including gas station attendants), I'll never know. I guess I'm just that like-able.

Anyway, I happened to have several flathead screwdrivers, so I let him borrow one while I stepped aside to build a sandwich in the backseat of my car. I probably should have stuck around. He had something going on under his hood that wasn't allowing his truck to start, and I might have learned something from him. But I was suddenly hungry and I just had to eat. Priorities. In the end, he fixed it, and everyone rejoiced.

There's no real incredible realization out of this. It's just one of those happenstances I encountered on my way; a random encounter where two people became friends for 5 minutes and then went on their merry ways. And it happened because I was dilly-dallying looking for juice.