We parked at our horsey club in Marriottsville and he wanted to go to Sykesville, E.W. Beck's specifically. We haven't been there since maybe last September. Sykesville is a sleepy town on the Patapsco River - has a by-pass that takes all the traffic from Main Street - at one time it was a bustling town - with mills and manufacturing plants but a couple fires and Hurricane Agnes in 1972 finished it off. There is a NEW skate park where the manufacturing plant was located, which was never rebuilt - turned into a park. Now it is getting a skate park, with a concrete half-pipe and everything. A major improvement.
We ride from the state park, and cross right on the river bridge and rail road tracks at the county line, then through a small parking lot, between buildings, then onto the sidewalk (which is pretty darn slim!)
We had a nice 'brunch' - I had French toast, he had fish tacos. Yum! We met so many people, coming and going, fishermen, families with kids and dogs; everyone was enjoying this gorgeous day!
This is where the exciting part comes: on the way back our truck 'died' on I-70 where the speed limit is SEVENTY - on the side of the road with the boys in the trailer, across from the county fair grounds - YIKERS! He had thought to bring the 'jump box' and if you don't have one I HIGHLY ADVISE YOU GET ONE and after a couple minutes on the box the truck started again - He thinks it is the alternator - the truck is a 2004 Ford F-350 Turbo Diesel Crew Cab 4X4 long-bed. A honking big truck, parked on the side of the road, with a horse trailer, with traffic blasting by. It just turned over 50,000 miles and he recently replaced the Turbo; special Sunday delivery and three trips to two different dealers, he fixed it himself in the driveway.
I was all ready to call U.S. RIDER, but he said 'let the jump box do its job' and in a couple minutes the truck did start again. U.S. RIDER is the insurance company we have that will tow your truck AND trailer - and find overnight accommodations for your horses, too, if necessary. For $89 a year it is priceless. A few years ago there was a local news thing about a truck/trailer breakdown on the Capital Beltway: the tow company would tow the truck but not the trailer, so they took the truck, left the horse trailer on the side of the road, and the woman was hand-grazing the horses in the median strip on the beltway and traffic was backed up to East Jabippy gawking at the horses in the grassy area. We got U.S. RIDER right after that!
The jump box is priceless, and I recommend everyone having one. You can jump your own car, no need for anyone else 'helping' you. No stranger needs to assist you, you can do this yourself. Don't need another car to pull up to yours. Comes with its own jumper cables. It really works. He had the foresight to put it in the truck before we left the house.
Now he thinks this new problem is the alternator, maybe. We just got TWO new batteries for this beast in October; this was the first batteries replacement since we got the truck in 2004. We bought it from a 'no haggle' dealer in Ellicott City on the internet. Coincidentally, he bought his Volt from the same guy 10 years later because the dealership had turned from Ford to Chevy in the meantime. And it was the same deal - on the internet - come get it, good bye. We tend to keep cars for 20 years or so, because that's how we roll. It could maybe be a battery cable. We'll see.
We wanted to get back by 5:30 or so, to take care of everyone, and get to Baltimore, to the Hippodrome, to see Dream Theater.
What a day! What a night!
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