Can you be unlucky and lucky at the same time?

Unlucky..  truck loses power and dies on the side of the Trans Canada

Lucky.. just on the edge of Regina (could have happened in ANY of the super remote places I've been up till now)

Unlucky.. it is sort of stormy, lots of blowing snow and visibility is just fair at times

Lucky.. nobody hit me!  :)

When it died the first time.. I figured I'd give it a few minutes and try again.   Surprisingly it seemed to be running better, and had decent power.. but the hope died 20 seconds or so later when it lost power again.  This time it died and wouldn't restart at all.  Almost made it to the exit (not that it really would have mattered that much).

So I texted my friend Dave (who happens to be 140 km away working a drilling site) to ask if he knows anything about diesels.  Figured maybe it was something I could diagnose and waiting a bit would solve it.  He suggested I call his uncle who is a Ford mechanic.  Call him on PEI, he is super helpful and after talking about the symptoms it sounds like the fuel pump.  Says it is about an hour job.  Hopefully that is it.

Side note:  While talking to Dave's uncle, a guy in a pickup truck hits a snow drift (must not have been paying attention) and it rolls onto it's side.  I didn't actually see it happen, just saw the aftermath (which was fine.. must have been a slow tip over).  People are running over and he climbs out of the passenger side.  Kinda nuts as the roads weren't really that bad.  

So call CAA, wait forever to talk to somebody, and they send a tow truck (they won't cover the tow as it is a big cube van, which I expected).  While waiting Dave suggests a Ford dealer he was at the other day to bring it to.  Look them up on my phone and call ahead (what did we do before smartphones?).  Sounds like they can get me in first thing tomorrow which is great. Tow truck arrives, nice guy.. flat tows me with the chain off the highway and then picks it up from the rear.  A $75 tow across town (literally from the south edge to the north edge) and then a courtesy ride from the dealership to the hotel and here I am.

Hopefully they get to it first thing, and IS actually just the fuel pump, and it'll be ready to go before noon.  That way I'll still get to Calgary tomorrow, just a bit later than initially planned.

So looks like my original route map will be accurate after all.  Dave is headed into town (if he doesn't run into bad weather) from 140 km away to hang out for a bit before heading back to the drilling site later tonight.

It makes for an interesting blog post anyway!  :)