Updates and Other Things

It appears that the OREM needs more than just a little TLC. After waiting for in the customer lounge for nearly 4.5 hours before I heard anything, I was sent a text listing 18 different items that needed “immediate” attention! The list was not only long, but quite dire in its predictions if I didn’t take care of the listed items. It included graphic pictures of the OREM’s worn out parts and gaskets, and I felt like a reluctant voyeur as I viewed them, as if the OREM had been unwittingly exposed after so many years of keeping me safe.

After consulting directly with Titus, my personal Toyota service rep, I was able to winnow the list down to 3 items that will hopefully ensure that we can continue onward with minimal worry. It’s not going to be cheap, and we won’t be able to retrieve the OREM until Thursday, which means we can’t start pedaling again until Friday. Of course it’s frustrating, but at least this happened where we can get things fixed and have a place to stay, La Casa de Bob! But I wish I knew more about auto mechanics, because I always feel like I’m getting taken to the cleaners when it comes to car repairs…sigh…

So the team will hunker down for a few days in Phoenix to rest and reflect. I’ll give Hank the Tank the deep cleaning he needs and deserves, which is significant after 8 days and 523 miles. We’re slightly over one-sixth of the way to our destination, and the minor events that are momentarily delaying us are as much a part of our journey as the things we have planned. As John Lennon sang in Beautiful Boy, an ode to his youngest son Sean, “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Indeed John, indeed…