It seems that everything that breaks on my Trooper breaks twice within a short period of time. First there was the clutch thing (again go back to the Valley of Fire escapades). The guys at Pep Boys Put in a new fuel pump, strainer and filter, and I was on my way about noon.

I made a little over 90 miles east on I-10, much of it in a blinding thunderstorm, when the engine died again. At this point I was well into Mississippi, about 10 miles from the Alabama border, and there was no convenient exit ramp to drift down. Fortunately the highway shoulders were wide and I could move well out of the flow of traffic.

Once again, I called Farmer's Insurance roadside assistance. At this point I figure they were probably getting tired of hearing from me. I must say that their roadside assistance program, which is part of the towing insurance package, is quite efficient and that their people were very helpful.

Imagine that - me actually saying something NICE about an insurance company!

This being Sunday afternoon, and the fact that I was again in sort of a remote area, it would take about 2 hours for the tow truck to get there. At least I could catch up on my reading.

Since Pep Boys warrantees their work, I wanted to get towed to another Pep Boys. The Farmer's agent located one in Mobile, Alabama, about 25 miles to the east. The tow truck arrived and got me into Mobile just before the Pep Boys closed. Their service people there were happy to honor the warrantee, and promised we that they'd get on it first thing in the morning.

Less than 1/2 mile away was a La Quinta motel, which was cheaper and far nicer than the place I was stuck in the night before. I got myself a nice, inexpensive, hi-calorie pork chop dinner at the nearby Waffle House, then went back to the motel and watched to Robin Williams special on HBO.