This morning did not start off good at all.
I called Jen to tell her that I would meet them at the crossroads of Hwy 74 and Hwy 60 instead of in Wickenburg because that would save me about 24 miles that I didn't really need to travel. She said okay and she agreed to call me when they were leaving the hotel so I would know when to leave to head out.
A short while later, she called me back and said they were heading out to pack the van and would be on their way. I packed up Dog and we headed to Jack-in-the-Box to get a breakfast jack for each of us. Yum. As Dog and I are driving down the highway toward the agreed meeting place, I'm cruising along and just got a feeling that something was wrong. It was a calm-ish feeling, but I knew something just wasn't right. Soon, Jen called again. She told me that someone had broken into their van and had stolen the portable DVD players they had borrowed from their neighbors. They were upset but decided to pursue leaving and heading out on their way home. I asked her if she'd called the police and she said no because she figured one of them had left the car unlocked and so it wasn't worth calling the police over. I told her she should anyway for this reason or that and she decided she would.
She called me back and told me that their speedometer, odometer, and A/C were not working now either so they had no idea how slow or fast they were going or how many miles they have gone. I told them where I would be waiting on the side of the road and they soon arrived. I had talked to Kevin about the situation and he said to look for burn marks or areas near the windows where the thieves may have popped the molding off and used a slim jim or such to open the door locks. We found the spot. Jen then called the police again and as she was talking to him, we discovered the thieves had also stolen two checks out of her checkbook that had been in the car, Taylor's converter that he'd bought to run the game cube, etc., and their first aid kit. Sounded like drug addicts to me. We tried to call the credit union to put a stop payment on the checks but no dice on a weekend. Lame!
We then headed into Wickenburg to see if we could find a car dealership that could help us with the blown accessories. We went to Jones Auto and got some help. I'm not sure that Jen and Shane know, but the strawberry blond guy that helped them was actually one of the owners, not a regular salesman. He is a member of the church and our ward's 1st Counselor is actually his Sales Manager. He made a quick phone call and got someone from the back and in a jiffy we were on our way again. No charge, either. Just a couple of fuses to fix it all up.
We headed to a gas station to fill up and we parted ways. They headed off to the north and I headed back to the south. I was a few miles outside of Wickenburg when my phone rang. It was Jen. She was crying this time. I asked her what was wrong and she told me the trailer had come off the hitch and had slammed into the back of their van and was now on the ground. I couldn't believe all of this was happening to them. I turned around and headed back to find them. I called C and he left work to come help too. Some guys from APS took pity on them and came to help. Long story short...wrong size hitch stem...thieves had apparently tried to steal the van and not the trailer and had tried to unhook the trailer...trailer popped off the hitch...lucky to be alive.
After a while, everything was fixed and they were on their way again. C and I both followed them for about 5-10 miles and then I called to see how they were doing. Jen said it felt really good - even better than the night before, so we pulled over and headed home. We stopped at Burger King and got some lunch and ate at the rest area just south of Wickenburg - just in case they called again, we would haven't so far to travel back - but they didn't call again so we headed home. They eventually made it to St. George later this evening - but things don't look to bode too well with blown fuses for the rest of their trip...
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