Bad News: Or, Rather, Good News

I'm on my way back from that trade show, where I helped #2 daughter and my son-in-law. Mostly by babysitting a video system, and minding Spiral Light Candle Corporation's booth.

Or, rather, I'm sitting in their RV, in a Pep Boy's parking lot.

The explanation is a sort of bad news/good news thing.

First, the Bad News

At a toll road gate, the RV's alternator failed. Abruptly and completely. My son-in-law used - the emergency starter, I think - to coax another thousand feet of progress out of the RV. Which got us past the toll booths and to a spot where a tow truck would have a chance of picking us up.

It was about 6:00 Saturday evening. Not every towing service has a truck that'll haul a 33-foot RV. Not around Pittsburgh, anyway. In central Minnesota and North Dakota, we need to drag farm implements and semitrailers out of mud now and again - and that's another topic.

My son-in-law found a company that had a couple of tow trucks that could handle us. Both needed to be towed, themselves. Looks like they were having a worse day than we were.

We got towed, after several phone calls and several hours.

Now, the Good News

Turns out, one of the RV's front tires was ready to fail. The other wasn't good for too many more miles, either. If we'd followed plans, #2 daughter would have been driving when one or two of the front tires blew.

These days, we call that sort of thing 'being lucky.'

More about the trade show and me:

• "Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show"
  Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind