05 May 2018

Well that could've been awkward!

The SCSon's youth shotgun (SCTP) club held it's end of season event Friday PM.  The deal is a quick team event round of trap (SCTP youth + 1, preferably a relative or friend).  I took time off from the DayJob(tm) to shoot with the SCSon.

Just as we arrived at the event, a leak developed in the car's hydraulic clutch.  Driver first noticed an unresponsive pedal.  Opening the hood revealed the reservoir was empty.  Refilled the reservoir and tried again.  Nope, it's pumping out with every push on the pedal without any moving the pressure plate from the clutch..

More frustrating is that we had that system reworked barely 3 months ago!  Replaced both master and slave cylinders to the tune of nearly six bills.  We took it to the shop because the master cylinder is in an impossibly constricted area of the car between the shock tower & firewall.

Fortunately we have AAA and called for a tow, knowing it would likely be a couple hours before we were picked up.

Also, this is a large world class range with a public range, several pistol bays, 600 yd high power rifle range, small bore and shotgun (trap & sporting clays) ranges.  She called and said "I'm by the bathrooms".  I said "good" and gave further directions...  Then nothing.. so I headed up the hill (I didn't want her to abandon the call and leave us stranded).   Finally we heard the truck fire up right where we expected..  She later related "Oh, I took advantage of the restrooms!"  Cool, I'm glad they were there for you.

Now picture the scene... we've at a shooting club with a pair of shotguns.  We've shot about the most miserable round of trap ever (11's).  Now we have to have the car towed to the repair facility.  OK, we can lock the guns in the trunk for the tow (cased and unloaded), but now we have to make the last five miles home.  I've not dealt with Uber or Lyft but AFAIK, it's gun free zone.  And I really wouldn't want to leave the shotguns in the trunk even for an hour or so to get a ride home and come back for them.

Fortunately The SCQueen has been volunteering in the snack bar and had driven separately.  Thus we had a second car to load the guns.  Lacking that I think we could have either a) imposed upon others to transport them home, or b) asking the coach to lock them up on site with the club guns overnight.  And I don't like option B!

Hopefully the repair facility will find a simple fix and the car will be back in service quickly.

BTW, the tow truck driver was *awesome*.  She drove the ~3? ton  truck with the enthusiasm of teen in a Ferrari!  And she called me "hon" on the phone ;-)  I'd never address anyone serving me "hon" so the turnabout tickled my funny bone.  I asked her "what's under the hood "V-10 Hemi"  Dang!  That's doing an amazing job of turning fuel into noise!  Seriously, She did a fantastic job!    I'm glad we drew her.

2 comments:

Merle said...

What brand of motor? I've seen V-10s and I've seen hemis, but never a V-10 hemi.....

danno said...

I thought that's what she said. I could be misremembering, and she might have made it up.