BOBBY'S IN TROUBLE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND NEEDS YOUR HELP TO GET HOME!
I got my first check ad revenue from Googletube and wanted to invest it right back into the show to bring you guys some first-class reporting; so I lined up several good stories, two of which required me to drive into Canada, and hit the road. I wasn’t in Canada for 30 minutes before my front left tire blew out, lucky for me it was at the off-ramp where there was a small commercial truck stop.
OK, no problem, I can change a tire – IF I had a SPARE! My son had used the spare tire without replacing it and I did not realize I didn’t have one. Of course it was after 6pm on a Sunday and nobody was open, but after being on the phone for hours trying to find someone who could bring me a used tire I finally found a tire company with emergency after-hours road service. After paying out half of my budget for the trip - $80 for the after-hours call, $60 for the normal road service, and $40 for the used tire he brought for a total of $180. After taking stock of what I had left, calculating the fuel I would need and what not, I thought I would be good to go, even with half of my money gone. Who needs to eat right?
After I got my left front tire fixed I crashed at the cheapest motel I could find because it was almost 4 in the morning. When I got up to leave the next morning, I wasn’t on the road for 5 minutes before the right front tire EXPLODED, stranding me ON the 401 highway, I wasn’t able to make it to a service station this time. Not only did the tire go boom, but when it did it took out the battery, the ABS line going to that wheel, and the fuel pump. I wasn’t going anywhere and since my cell phone doesn’t work in Canada I couldn’t call for help either.
Eventually a tow truck driver came by and offered to tow the truck to a mechanics and take me back to the motel for $75 and $4/km. I thought that was highway robbery and I told him to get lost. About half an hour later another tow truck driver stopped and offered me basically the same deal: $80 and $4/km (which is like $8 a mile.) I didn’t feel like waiting on the highway all day for a third driver to come by and tell me the same thing, or possibly charge even more, so I took him up on his offer.
He dropped the truck off on Monday afternoon and took me back to the motel, asking $200 for his services. I explained to him that I only had $200 left and that if he took it all he would basically be stranding me in a foreign country with no way to do anything at all; he left me with $20. After I paid the motel for another couple of nights with my gas money I now have $10 Canadian in my pocket, and a truck in the shop that needs about $800 in repairs including a new tire. I have been sitting in this hotel room trying desperately to find a way to get the money, even calling my mother who is just about as broke as I am. No help there.
I spent most of yesterday making a video that explains everything, including footage of the two blown tires, and ends with me asking for donations once again. I tried to upload it last night, but this crappy motel must have dial up or something because I have not been able to upload it even in the smallest, low quality format. The motel is in an industrial section of town so I can’t walk to an internet café because there is simply nothing around here but manufacturing; no McDonalds, no nothing.
If I don’t come up with $800 for the repairs, and another $100 for gas to get home, I’m not going to get home; at least not with the truck. If you guys can’t help me, the only option I have left is to sell the truck for scrap, which would leave me with no vehicle at all, and hitchhike home. I would rent a car with whatever I get for the truck, but I spent several hours last night trying to find a car agency that will rent cars one way to the US, and there are none available.
So that is where I stand, with no exaggeration or embellishment: Broke and stranded in a foreign country with nowhere else to turn – not even family - for help; and I’m going to get kicked out of the motel Thursday morning at 11:45.
If you have the ability, please go to www.bobpowell.blogspot.com and HELP ME GET HOME! I need your help more now than ever before. Even if you can’t make a donation by clicking on the yellow PAYPAL DONATE button below, please forward this message to others who might be able to help.
OK, no problem, I can change a tire – IF I had a SPARE! My son had used the spare tire without replacing it and I did not realize I didn’t have one. Of course it was after 6pm on a Sunday and nobody was open, but after being on the phone for hours trying to find someone who could bring me a used tire I finally found a tire company with emergency after-hours road service. After paying out half of my budget for the trip - $80 for the after-hours call, $60 for the normal road service, and $40 for the used tire he brought for a total of $180. After taking stock of what I had left, calculating the fuel I would need and what not, I thought I would be good to go, even with half of my money gone. Who needs to eat right?
After I got my left front tire fixed I crashed at the cheapest motel I could find because it was almost 4 in the morning. When I got up to leave the next morning, I wasn’t on the road for 5 minutes before the right front tire EXPLODED, stranding me ON the 401 highway, I wasn’t able to make it to a service station this time. Not only did the tire go boom, but when it did it took out the battery, the ABS line going to that wheel, and the fuel pump. I wasn’t going anywhere and since my cell phone doesn’t work in Canada I couldn’t call for help either.
Eventually a tow truck driver came by and offered to tow the truck to a mechanics and take me back to the motel for $75 and $4/km. I thought that was highway robbery and I told him to get lost. About half an hour later another tow truck driver stopped and offered me basically the same deal: $80 and $4/km (which is like $8 a mile.) I didn’t feel like waiting on the highway all day for a third driver to come by and tell me the same thing, or possibly charge even more, so I took him up on his offer.
He dropped the truck off on Monday afternoon and took me back to the motel, asking $200 for his services. I explained to him that I only had $200 left and that if he took it all he would basically be stranding me in a foreign country with no way to do anything at all; he left me with $20. After I paid the motel for another couple of nights with my gas money I now have $10 Canadian in my pocket, and a truck in the shop that needs about $800 in repairs including a new tire. I have been sitting in this hotel room trying desperately to find a way to get the money, even calling my mother who is just about as broke as I am. No help there.
I spent most of yesterday making a video that explains everything, including footage of the two blown tires, and ends with me asking for donations once again. I tried to upload it last night, but this crappy motel must have dial up or something because I have not been able to upload it even in the smallest, low quality format. The motel is in an industrial section of town so I can’t walk to an internet café because there is simply nothing around here but manufacturing; no McDonalds, no nothing.
If I don’t come up with $800 for the repairs, and another $100 for gas to get home, I’m not going to get home; at least not with the truck. If you guys can’t help me, the only option I have left is to sell the truck for scrap, which would leave me with no vehicle at all, and hitchhike home. I would rent a car with whatever I get for the truck, but I spent several hours last night trying to find a car agency that will rent cars one way to the US, and there are none available.
So that is where I stand, with no exaggeration or embellishment: Broke and stranded in a foreign country with nowhere else to turn – not even family - for help; and I’m going to get kicked out of the motel Thursday morning at 11:45.
If you have the ability, please go to www.bobpowell.blogspot.com and HELP ME GET HOME! I need your help more now than ever before. Even if you can’t make a donation by clicking on the yellow PAYPAL DONATE button below, please forward this message to others who might be able to help.
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