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I am going to avoid the whole whiner thing going on elsewhere, and express
my sincere regret that your move went so badly. I wonder, like some of the
others, why you turned around and came home so close to your destination.
Perhaps being there would give me more insight to the burdens of living in a
broken down rental truck, but turning around and heading for NC had to only
lengthen the ordeal, and it gets you back to where you started with several
thousand dollars ------ across the country.

Maybe next time you want to move, you should bundle up a pile of twenties
and send them to me, and save the grief of loading and unloading the truck.
;-)

"Nathan W. Collier" <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message
news:b_dTa.335124$jp.8774928@twister.southeast.rr. com...
> i dont really know where to begin to explain the sequence of events that
> took place over the past couple of weeks. it started with picking up a
uhaul
> truck in fayetteville, nc and returning it in fayetteville, nc some 14
days
> later.
>
> the truck i was given was not the truck i reserved 3 weeks prior, and i
> could not get a satisfactory response from any uhaul representative. i
> reserved a diesel powered 26' "super mover", but what i got instead was an
> 82 model underpowered gas truck that was missing most of its dash and had
> loose/exposed wiring that rubbed against your leg. when i tried to push
the
> wiring back into the dash, the truck would knock off. since we were out of
> time i decided to make the best of it hoping it would make the trip.
>
> aside from endless breakdowns along the way (most of which i had to repair
> myself for various reasons), the real troubles started in the rocky
> mountains.
>
> ive written a 7 page letter to uhaul and here is one small section of that
> letter that explains the straw that broke the camels back:
>
> ------------------------
> The truck did "ok" up I-94. It was a real tease to see just how beautiful
> Montana really is and despite all the troubles I'd had along the way, I
was
> still just happy to finally be in "Big Sky Country". When I-94 and I-90
> came together my happiness of being in Montana was quickly replaced by
fear,
> apprehension, and anger once again. Bozeman Pass was a nightmare, as well
> as all the other "passes" along the way between Billings and Butte.
Passing
> signs that read "Chain Up Area 1/2 Mile" struck fear in me as I quickly
came
> to learn that those signs meant another steep grade that I might or might
> not make. The truck would downshift, backfire, downshift, etc. until it
> dropped into 1st. gear where it would drop to 4 mph screaming as it
crawled
> along impeding traffic. It was around Bozeman Pass that I had to explain
to
> my 10 year old why so many people were honking and flipping us off as they
> finally worked their way around us.
>
> The grade that changed everything was the Continental Divide (the first
time
> you cross it heading towards Great Falls). The truck screamed until it
came
> to a total stop not even 1 mile into the climb where it sat there and
> "moaned" but would not move. I got out of the truck (stopped in the middle
> of the interstate!) and backed my Jeep Wrangler off the auto transport
> trailer hoping that would be enough to get the truck going again. The
truck
> moved less than 100 feet before it came to a dead stop again. If
everything
> we owned had not been in the back of the Uhaul truck I think I would have
> got in my Jeep Wrangler at that point and drove away without ever looking
> back. Since that was not an option, we finally worked the truck off onto
> what there is of a shoulder and attempted to call Uhaul for assistance.
> Without cell phone service in that area however, there was nothing I could
> do. About an hour later a truck driver stopped to help and towed the Uhaul
> over the Continental Divide.
>
> <SNIP>
>
> While not quite as bad since we were coming off the mountain, the dozen or
> so mountain passes that we had just climbed were no fun going over from
the
> opposite direction. The automatic transmission offered no engine braking,
> and the truck constantly tried to run away coming down the grades. My wife
> (in her Jeep Cherokee behind me) had to back off because her eyes were
> watering from the fumes generated by my burning brakes.
> ----------------------------------------
>
> i may post the entire letter at a later time, but that gives you a sample
of
> the problems we had along the way. prior to trying I-90, we attempted to
> take 200 into great falls and had to be pulled over the grades outside of
> belt because the truck just didnt have the balls to pull itself. im
> referencing the first grade just past eddies corner, it didnt even make it
> to the steeper grades at belt.
>
> by the time we got into montana, the wifey hated it (due to all the
problems
> along the way). with tears in her eyes she begged me "please take me home,
> nathan" so thats just what i did. there was no reasoning, there was no
point
> in even trying as i could see it in her eyes that i had no choice. now im
> stuck here again in this same house in this same -----hole neighborhood in
> this same -----hole state with the only difference being that now im
roughly
> $5,000 poorer than i was a few weeks ago. "luckily" the house didnt close
> when it was supposed to which made it possible for me to break the selling
> contract without fear of suit, but i refunded the buyers expenses (roughly
> $600 for home inspection, mortgage fees, termite inspection, etc.) anyway.
>
> there are a few things i learned along the way.
> 1) iowa is one huge cornfield with a road going down the middle
> 2) fill up in des moines because you wont find gas again
> 3) ever other car in indiana is a highway patrolman
> 4) minnesota is beautiful, particularly around alexandria
> 5) north dakota has free internet access at rest stops!
> 6) sadly, the indians on the crow reservation live up to their
stereotyping
> 7) uhaul does very bad business
>
> to make it worse, while parked outside of my hotel room in illinois the
cab
> of the uhaul got broken into (even though everything was hidden behind the
> seat). they got my laptop (ancient anyway, but still), my digi-cam, my
gps,
> and my cobra cb that i just bought before the trip.
>
> at this point im not sure what our next step will be. im not happy in
north
> carolina, but we need to regroup before we consider another move. i
> absolutely loved montana, but its going to take some convincing before the
> wifey will try that again. no amount of description or even pictures can
> prepare you for the awesome, rugged beauty of montana and i know ill make
it
> back.
>
>
> --
> Nathan W. Collier
> http://7SlotGrille.com
>
>