During the drive out, two things happened. The first thing was that I noticed how little power these little engines have. Driving over the Sierras I was lucky if I could get her into 4th gear. Most of the time I was in the trucker lane, going 35mph, trying not to get run over.
The second thing was that I noticed that my headlights started dimming right before I hit the very top of the pass. I coasted down the pass and pulled into a liquor store right outside of Reno. When I got back in my truck, it wouldn't start. I had no lights, no clicking and knew immediately what was wrong: my alternator had failed.
I got really really lucky on that trip though. I called up AAA and had a very awesome tow truck driver come to my rescue. We had 3 dogs in the back of the truck (not to mention the loads of camping gear for a few days in the desert) and worried about where we were going to stay with them. I figured we'd stay at a Motel 6 and find a shop near there where we could drop the truck for the morning.Our tow truck driver suggested we stay at the Sierra Grand Resort and Casino. I was floored. No way were they going to let 3 pit bulls into a resort. But we were wrong and he was right. The staff was more than accommodating and didn't blink an eye at our dogs. Our driver also suggested we get the work done at the shop that services the AAA trucks. Generally, I'm a bit wary of this, but he was so darn nice, I couldn't say no. He said that the shop was AAA approved and that it was within walking distance of the hotel. He drove us around and showed us how to get there before driving my truck up to the hotel on the flat bed and waiting for us to unload the gear we wanted for the night.
I had a brand new alternator installed and was on the road by 1pm the following day. We stayed in a swanky suite in the hotel (instead of setting up camp in the dark), payed almost 1/2 what I would have paid here in CA to get the alternator replaced and were setting up camp all in less than 24 hours.
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