On Wednesday April 13th 2022, we made our way to Chehalis on fumes, having used all our gas seeking adventure at Scatter Creek. We stopped at the traditional Wal-Mart aka Walmart (yeah it's dumb that they changed it) to park for the day.
It was mostly sunny, and although we had rain and snow on occasion, it wasn't enough to worry about. Spent alot of time listening to music, getting baked and planning our next move.
When night fell, the bizarrity began. First off we were asked if we could sell some meth, and we made it clear that we weren't meth dealers. We were just traveling. Then the Fast & Furious crew came out to drive around like Vin Diesel wannabes with their honeybee-powered engines and pseudo-music, annoying everyone.
As it grew even darker and colder, we started the engine to warm the car and ourselves, as well as to charge our phones, but it soon finally ran out of fumes and our car died. It was then that we realized that we'd have to panhandle in the morning to get moving again.
As we sat there trying to stay warm, contemplating a better solution, the actual local drug dealer arrived and parked near us. He soon got some business as his "music" blared, even more annoying than the Fast & Furiousers.
We thought we might push the car to a better location on the lot to escape the insanity of drug deals, loud "music" and a loudly arguing couple when the dealer exited his vehicle and climbed into another vehicle for awhile. We texted whomever we could to ask for help but got nothing.
K-Dub & I had nothing but time and a major problem to solve, so we thought we'd meet some locals via a popular hookup app, in hopes of getting some help even if we had to earn it the hard way. If we got no help, maybe we'd at least have a good time and get our minds off the problems at hand.
After a couple disappointing hours, a local named Robert offered to help us with gas, pushing our car to the 76 station and putting 30 dollars in our tank. He didn't ask for anything in return so we went to hang out with him for awhile to charge our portable jump starter and offer some adult fun to make his kind gesture worthwhile for him. Despite hanging out for a couple hours, we just talked about his life the whole time and then he took us back to the car with a charged portable jump starter. As we tried to start the car, the battery was toast. Nothing. Not even a click. New problem, same day.
We spent the rest of the night trying to start the car, most of the time with the portable jump starter, but it was too weak to work. K-Dub tried everything, even jury rigging a drill battery as a jump starter, but he eventually worked alone as I was freezing cold and had to stay in the car. K-Dub bundled me and our chihuahua companion Hank up in all the blankets, sitting next to me without complaining as he shivered. The morning commuters began to arrive for coffee and fuel and K-Dub began asking for a jump start.
Time and time again, all K-Dub heard was "No" until he was just about broken. On the edge of tears and feeling like a failure, he asked a guy exiting the store if he had jumper cables. The guy said that if he didn't have them in his truck, he'd go to Uhaul where he worked and get some.
K-Dub walked back to the car and the guy pulled right up and hooked up the cables he had in his toolbox. In a minute, the car was alive again and the guy left for work, with our appreciation but without us finding out his name. Whoever he was, he works at Uhaul in Chehalis and was our hero that night along with Robert who gave us fuel.
K-Dub got in the car and broke down. It was hard for me to hear him cry but he needed to. As morning broke, our problems were solved so we bought some road rations and got back on the road headed south. With no sleep but alot of hope, we headed to Longview.