Day 99

September 15, 2017                                                                                                       Day 99

Again with no sleep.  All night long traffic was constantly going by and loud noises kept occurring behind me which I found out was due to a wrecking yard being on the other side of the cement wall I was right next to.  Last night, Joe from Fillmore Welding had texted me that he would call me today at 09:30 so until then I got dressed in clean clothes, put dry shampoo in my hair and threw my hat back on to hide the hair.   It has now been about four days since I last took a shower during which I have backpacked at least twenty miles.  So without a shower and feeling quite disgusting I sat in my camper, eating a banana and a honey sandwich (for I was out of food) while trying to catch up in my journal.

At 09:30, Joe called and wanted me to take pictures of the damage so he could assess the job so I got out and crawled underneath my camper to take the pictures.  While I was laying on the ground, under my camper, a Snap-On truck pulled up and the guy saw I had Wisconsin plates and asked if I was alright.  He pulled over and I explained what was all going on and he gave me his number and told me to call if the welding guy didn't pan out and he would figure someway to get me fixed up!  Got to love a fellow Wisconsinite!

After I sent the pictures I never heard anything back so I messaged the welder again to see if the pictures went thru and he said he will be near me within twenty minutes.  I was like, "hold your horses and lets talk pricing."  Here he said his minimum was $340.00 and if it went over four hours it was an additional $85.00 per hour.  So I called up my dad in Wisconsin and although he was at work, in the loader and busy, he still answered my call and was really patient with me and told me that that was an outrageous price and to not pay that.  So with his advice I told the welder I could not afford that and can really only afford $200.00, $300.00 at the most.  He then told me that lets just see what the job looks like and he will give me a price and if I don't like it I can find someone else.  So I then waited for him to show up.    I called my dad in Wisconsin twice and though he was busy at work he took the time out of his day to help me and was so patient! How did I get to be so lucky that he came into my life?

While I waited for the welder to show up I gave myself a pep talk and said to look tough and be hard.  I told myself that I would not budge from my price and to look like I knew what I was talking about.  I should mention that I am the worst person at negotiating and I hate confrontation.  When he pulled up he turned out to be a nice man and after assessing the work said that he would only charge me $200.00 for the job.  So I moved my vehicle slowly down the street to an empty lot where he would be able to pull up next to me and go about his work.  The next couple hours were spent talking about what he was doing and answering all my questions and then talking about his family.  My dad had wanted him to do something else to my camper via welding but this guy suggested not doing it and I just did not really know anything about welding to argue my point.  After he fixed the broken spring shackle I had him reinforce the other welds to hopefully prevent any more mishaps in the future.

All in all he seemed to be a very nice and sincere man and I just hope that the job he did would hold up and be good enough for the rest of my journey.  During the time he was welding my camper another man had pulled up in a jeep asking if I needed a new tire for he owned a boat place down the road; however, it would turn out he didn't have the ones I needed.  The guy welding my camper also mentioned that I needed to go home and get a new trailer which is obviously out of the question.  One home is too far away and two I can not just pick up my camper off my trailer and place it on a different one.  I know he meant it all to be helpful but I was kind of offended by it only because this camper is my "baby" and I don't like hearing that something is wrong with it or its not up to par.  In my mind it is perfect and the oddities make it unique.

With my camper fixed up we said our goodbyes and I proceeded to make phone calls to find someone that carried the size tire that I needed.  One place, Randy's Tires, was the closest one which was eight miles and about twenty minutes away but would be able to get the tire I needed.  So I drove in the direction praying my tire would not pop along the way.  Thankfully, I did make it there and they were able to go get the tire I needed and put it on for me.  They were all very nice and I really liked the business they had.  Sixty-five dollars later I was finally all put back together and headed towards a Walmart to get some deli meat and cheese. Oh and wouldn't you just guess what happened when I got to the said Walmart?  You were correct, it has no deli section although it says it is a super Walmart! While I was at the store I was on the phone with my mom and we just started laughing when I realized I was back in one of those stupid Walmart's.  So I ended up buying cookie dough and while talking with her I learned that her and dad were actually going out for their anniversary which I couldn't believe and I was just so happy and excited for them!

At my vehicle, we skyped one more time so that my dad could assess the welding work and although he was not all that impressed we all hoped it would hold up.  Finally, I was headed in a direction other than backwards and I set my sights on Death Valley National Park.   The first potential camping location had no cell service which normally would not matter to me but I wanted to appease my mom so I decided to continue looking.  The second place, I didn't even stop at I just drove by and in my gut felt like it was not the right place so I kept going.  I did not mind the drive at all for it was actually really relaxing, the weather was perfect, and the land was wide open with mountains completely surrounding me.  Everything was also accentuated for the sun was going down behind me and turned the landscape into a palette of purple.

At long last, I found some land to park at which was located just two minutes south of Spangler Hills OHVA - Wagon Wheel BLM and only an hour south of Death Valley National Park.  As I parked, I called my mom to let her know where I was and that I had made it somewhere for the night.  Then I immediately passed out after eating a half grilled cheese and a sparkling water for dinner.