Dear Fellow Hikers,
I’ve had trucks most of my vehicle owning life. Some of my many trucks (yes, I’ve had many…) have not been considered trucks by all people. My 1970’s Datsun, extended cab pickup (a fuel efficient vehicle during the energy crisis of the 70’s) clearly was not a real truck according to my, full size 3/4 ton truck, colleagues. And actually, not real, according to me as well. Nor is my current full size SUV, that doesn’t even have an open truck bed. But never the less, I still refer to all of them as my trucks. My Dad, a Minneapolis firefighter for 30 years always referred to the fire trucks he rode in and drove as rigs. He also tended to refer to my trucks as rigs, usually by saying “That’s a nice rig… a lot nicer than any of the cars that I drove at your age.”
I’ve also frequently had multiple vehicles at the same time. Sometimes a truck or car along with a motorcycle. Sometimes a nicer vehicle (one that would always start) along with one that was a good “work, beater car/truck” (that didn’t always start). After I got married and especially after our kids hit driving age, we always had a few vehicles in the driveway. And that variety of vehicles, or rigs as we’re gonna call them today continue to occupy our property today.
That being said, one of my rigs has got a bum wheel. It’s getting older and has been making some strange sounds lately, progressively getting worse. It also appears that there are some alignment issues starting to show. I’ve started using it a lot less lately hoping to preserve it a little longer. I’ve brought it into the shop a few times now, each time with the mechanics finding small things wrong, fixing them if it wasn’t too costly, but never finding the real problem. Then there’s my occasional efforts to identify the problem and fix it myself… again with no solutions to fix the real problem.
Like I said, this rig is a little older than my others, and a somewhat unique model. My local oil change and routine maintenance mechanic suggested I take it to a specialist who would have better diagnostic equipment. So I did… and the results were very conclusive. The mechanic showed me everything that was wrong and the different options for repair. And he gave me his professional opinion on how to actually fix the problem I’ve wrestled with for several months now. His credentials, experience, and authentic personality, gave me the confidence to go with his very detailed plan. But of course, as I believe you usually get what you pay for, our plan wasn’t going to be cheap! (Fortunately my extended warranty insurance will pick up the majority of the costs!)
The short version of the diagnosis is that the tire/wheel assembly has a bad cable that has been damaged for quite awhile now, and will continue to get progressively worse if not repaired. The cable secured and controlled some of the inner workings of the assembly, and as it was now failing to do its job. Now the associated parts were breaking down and no longer aligned properly… needing to be replaced/repaired as well. I have a lot of confidence in my wheel guy and now waiting to get all the parts ordered and an appointment scheduled. We also needed to go through all of the insurance process approvals. Once that’s all done, I can finally get the bum wheel fixed! If everything works out, we should be in and out of the shop in a single day. Since this rig is a classic, it will take some time for the parts to fully integrate back into the wheel, and will include a fairly long process of breaking in all the rebuilt parts.
So there you have my ongoing saga of a bum wheel… I’m optimistic that the repair process will return the wheel to an almost, like new status. My out of service rig should be back on the road in a month or two, with limited test drives to make sure all the parts are in good shape and working together!
And what, you might ask, does this have to do with our Life Hike Journeys that are the focus of these letters? Here’s a few Life Hike take-aways that I’ve discovered, or simply confirmed of my existing beliefs. The first is that we’ve all been blessed with a variety of rigs that help us get where we’re going on our Life Hike Journeys. These are unique rigs that are customized to meet our individual needs, responsibilities and experiences. Next, it’s essential that we care about our rigs, understanding what they are, how they work, and the care/maintenance/repairs they will eventually need. And my final take-away… that it is critical that we all have our own, unique, customized network of service (care) providers to help us out when our individual efforts just aren’t enough to keep our rigs in good shape (healthy)…on the road… doing the stuff that needs to be done.**
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and good travels in their rigs as you continue on your Life Hikes!
With Care and Gratitude, Dan… Just Dan
Postscript…
Re: **Doing the stuff that needs to be done. One of the things I believe that always need doing, is making sure those you know and are part of your communities, have the necessary advice and resources to create their own network of service providers. There’s nothing more healing than knowing you don’t have to go through challenging times alone!
Re: Getting my Rig Serviced… One of these weeks when my “service in the shop” gets scheduled, I’ll be a bit pre-occupied and may miss a week or two of letters. Tony always worries when my letter isn’t waiting for him when he gets up on Friday mornings… so I want to reassure him, I’ll be back as soon as I get my Bum Wheel worked on.
And Finally… Yes, it is a metaphor…
Next Up: “TBD…” (Publish Date: Friday 04/25/25, S2/L21)