I made a Yelp review today!

 

Onix and Gemela at the scene of the "crime."

I made my first Yelp review today! 

Last week we delivered in Carson, California and received a return load for Monday, picking up in San Diego and going to Kentucky. Basically, we just got the weekend off! 

So, Sunday, we went shopping! 

We spotted a transit bus, so we looked for the nearest bus stop, which was right in front of the truck stop! 

The local outlet mall was right down the road, and we each had a few stores we wanted to check out, so we caught an early bus on Sunday and rode for less than 10 minutes. 

Nick wanted to go to the Vans store, and I wanted to go to the Columbia and Ariat stores. We also checked out the Hey Dudes store, where we got some lovely Spotted Dog shoes for me! We left the mall with 2 pairs of shoes for me, 1 pair of shoes for Nick, and some new t-shirts so we can represent our favorites!

So we had a nice weekend, we got some work done, we got some new stuff, and we were ready to go by 5am Monday morning.

First, we had to go down the road to the Flying J truckstop so we could dump our Porta-Potti. We like to start a cross‐country trip with an empty pot, because sometimes finding a place to dump while running down the road is a crap shoot. Literally. 

The Flying J-Barstow had two spots out in front of the store where we could slide a credit card, and go about our business and be done in just a few minutes. We'd be on I-15, heading towards San Diego, before 5:30! 

Or so we thought. 

After cleaning out the toilet and getting it ready to go back into the truck, we turned around and found the doors of the truck locked. Windows closed, all the little storage doors sealed up, and both sets of keys inside the truck. We looked in the window, and the dogs all looked at us like we were wasting time. 

I have no pictures of this period of supreme embarrassment, because all 3 phones were also inside the truck. Fortunately, Nick had his wallet, because he had needed it to pay for the dump service. (It was $10, if you're curious.)

Our First idea, Get the dogs to open the passenger side windows. We specify the passenger side, because it has a switch on the door which the girls have been known to get open when they are abandoned in the truck for 5 minutes to 2 hours, depending on whether we are walking around the truck or going to dinner. Evidently, they are only capable of this when they want to or when it is funny, not at our request. 

So, Idea 1A. Get some Babybel Cheese to entice the dogs to open the window. $5 at the truckstop and it didn't work. 

Our Second idea, see if someone has a flat-jack to get the lock open or the door handle to move. The truckstop had a kit to get into your locked truck. We got one, but after 10-15 minutes trying this, we agreed with the dogs, we were wasting time, and another $30.

I went back inside, talked to Tanya, the manager of the Flying J-Barstow, and she called A-1 Lock Barstow for me.  At 5:30 in the morning, John agreed to come out for $160. We still had another hour before we would be late getting to pickup, but I was tired of messing with it. 

John got there 20 minutes later, and had the truck unlocked 2 minutes after he arrived. It took that long because he was fumbling for his equipment and still waking up! He made us an spare key for no extra charge, and gave us his recommendation for a good place to hide it. 

As he was putting his gear back, all he asked for was a good review on Yelp. I swore I would give him an 11 star rating! 

So, if you, dear reader, ever find yourself needing a locksmith in Barstow, California, you have my recommendation. 

I also recommend you keep your keys in your pocket, and your dogs in crates with strong bars on them, and locks! 

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES!!  😉