The trip to Yosemite and San Jose was great, but it didn't start out that way. The flight to San Jose via Phoenix was smooth and uneventful. Upon arriving in San Jose we picked up the rental car at National, a Volkswagen Passat. Since we had been traveling for several hours, we stopped at In and Out Burger for lunch. My wife had the Double-Double and I had a regular cheeseburger. We went to Trader Joe's for food stuffs and a case of bottled water (the beef and turkey sticks were surprisingly good).
After lunch we started off to Yosemite which would take roughly 3 hours. Along the way we stopped off at the San Luis reservoir and toured the Visitor Center. I liked the virtual tour they had of the hydroelectric plant which supplies power to the facility and pumps that regulates the water in and out of the reservoir.
We continued to Yosemite and stopped at a small convenience for a drink and snacks then continued on the road which consisted mostly of open fields, farmland or ranches.
This is where the "bump in the road" happens. At around 5:30 pm we got a flat tire so I pulled off to the side of the road to change the tire. No problem. We had the spare tire which was actually a full-sized tire, the jack and the lug wrench. I had just unloaded the spare and tools when a CHP officer pulled up to check on us. Dawn was helpful and suggested I loosen the lug nuts before jacking up the car which I knew, but didn't remember the obvious. I looked at the tire and that's when I noticed that there were security locks on all 5 of the lug nuts. Ok, no problem, my car at home has this sort of thing and all you need is the key to unlock the lug nuts. Back to the trunk to find the key, but to my surprise it wasn't there. Officer Dawn checked as well to lend another set of eyes and she didn't find it.
I called Roadside Support and explained the situation to the customer service rep. We went back and forth about what the best course of action would be. The tow truck driver could unlock the lug nuts, change the tire so we can get to Yosemite then swap the car the next day or the car could be towed. We decided on the change and next day exchange option. They scheduled a tow truck to come unlock the tire and change the spare so we could get on our way. I got a link to check the progress on a website, ETA 90 minutes. So, all that was left was to wait for the tow truck to arrive and Officer Dawn left.
Fast forward 2 hours, the ETA came and went so I called Roadside Support to get an update. The tow company cancelled the request and did not contact anyone so we had to wait for the CS rep to request another tow truck.
At around 8:15 pm, Officer Dawn returned and stopped to check since we were still on the side of the road. By this time my wife needed to use the restroom and had been considering the options available out in the middle of nowhere, none of which were very appealing. Officer Dawn offered to take her to Mariposa which was only 10 minutes away and we took her up on the offer. She went to the Best Western and Kaitlyn was very accommodating and helpful.
After my wife left, I sat in the car to wait for the tow truck to arrive which was supposed to be 90 minutes. I loaded the website again to track the progress of the tow truck. It was dark by this time and I decided to set up my tripod and smart phone to take some nighttime pics of the night sky. The display of stars was fantastic and I hadn't seen anything like it since camping in Waianae with the family many years ago. After setting up the camera I went back to the car to turn off the hazards temporarily and discovered the doors were locked. Somehow I locked the keys in the car. Seriously?!?
Nothing to do except wait so I took a few pics of the nighttime sky which is what I intended to do before being a bonehead and locking the keys in the car. After another 2 hours, I received a call from Roadside Service to tell me the second request was cancelled. I didn't catch exactly what the reason was except that it had something to do with covid. At this point I didn't care in the slightest. I was tired. I was cold. I have not even encountered the stupid disease at all during the past 2 1/2 years. But, noooooo, cancel and leave me stuck in the middle of nowhere, literally.
More waiting as Roadside Service tried to find a tow company that could get to me. While I'm waiting, CHP pulls up to check. Officer Dawn spoke to a couple of officers before going off shift so they were aware of my situation. I let them know that I was waiting for Roadside Service to get back to me and that they were working on getting a tow truck.
In the meantime, my wife was still at the Best Western Mariposa and worried for obvious reasons. I texted updates to try and ease her fears and concerns. Kaitlyn helped to arrange a room at a discount since it was increasingly unlikely we would make it to Yosemite that night. She also worked with Booking.com to switch our check-in from Tuesday to Wednesday. Kaitlyn tried to help with the tow by calling around to see if anyone could get out to the location.
I contacted a couple of tow companies on my own while waiting since I had nothing better to do. The one company I was able to contact didn't have any drivers available and I couldn't get a hold of any of the other tow companies. Sitting on the hood of the car, I decided to wait for Roadside Service to get back to me since I didn't want to use up the battery power I had left in my phone.
Finally, Roadside Service called to let me know they could schedule a tow truck to respond, but they were in Merced. That was 45 minutes away so it would take between 45 - 60 minutes to arrive. I said do it since I had no other options at that point. Service request number 3 loaded up on the website which said ETA 45 minutes. The driver called me to confirm my location and I was quite happy to provide any details he needed.
My phone battery was down to 3% by this point and drains quickly when it gets to that level so I did what I could to conserve the remaining power. I checked my watch periodically to track the progress until 45 minutes passed. I looked at the website to see what the progress was and it said Arrival in Progress. The minutes continued to tick by and time sure passes slowly when you are aware of every second. I looked down at my phone and it didn't turn on. Obviously, the battery was drained. So, I plopped myself on the hood of the car and waited.
I ignored the lights that illuminated the area since too many times over the many hours it was a passing vehicle rather than the expected tow truck. However, this time I was very pleasantly surprised when the truck pulled off to the side of the road and slowly backed up towards me.
Gabriel from American Towing showed up a little after 2 am and said "Bet you're glad to see me". I said, "You have no idea." He proceeded to unlock the car and I fetched the keys from the cupholder between the driver and passenger seats as well as my jacket which never felt so good to put on. It only took a few minutes for him to load the car onto the bed of the tow truck then we were on our way.
We had a good conversation during the short drive and he dropped me off at the Best Western then unloaded the car which I would have to exchange in Oakhurst later that morning. My wife was relieved to say the least and I unloaded our stuff into the room we had for the rest of the night.
And so ends the opening act of the drama that was our flat tire on the way to Yosemite.
