The Great 1989 Van Saga

By July 1989, vacation time had arrived, and Mom (Dina) loaded the kids into the van, picked up family friend Susi, and headed west for Los Angeles. Dad was staying behind to cover the medical practice.

The trouble started around 8:30 PM. Dad got a call from family friend Cindy Goodman, relaying a message from Mom that "the van had overheated and stalled" at the rest stop about 15 miles west of Tonopah, Arizona, which put her more than 75 miles from Chandler. Dad noted, with characteristic wryness, that Mom "like most people, does not understand how the cellular telephone system works. She could have just as easily called me directly as Cindy. In fact, I did call her back right off".

They refilled the radiator with water and, despite Dad's advice, Mom headed back towards Tonopah at low speed. Dad scrambled for backup. "I checked all over for rental vans," he wrote. "The big rental firms just laughed at me: Hertz allowed as to how one might be available in mid-August, if we were lucky". So Dad and his best friend Bob Sisk headed west in two cars toward Tonopah. They were halfway there when Mom called to say they'd made it and the problem was "just a hose near the water pump," an obscure part Dad later learned was called "an auxiliary water pump bypass hose, which mechanics almost never replace, as they almost never fail".

Dad and Bob turned around and headed home. But "just as we were pulling into our driveway, Dina called" with worse news: "the night mechanics at Joe's had restarted the car, only to have it backfire, buck and sputter to a halt. They pronounced that the head gasket(s) was(were) blown, and that major repairs were needed". Family friend Arnie, who had arrived on the scene, "had been impressed that Joe's night crew closely resembles a combination of the Three Stooges and the Keystone Cops". Mom refused to let them touch the van.

Bob and Dad picked up Bob's van and drove out to meet the stranded crew. "We were all home in bed (thanks to many people, especially to our great friend Bob, who is willing to sacrifice his sleep to help others) by 0200," Dad wrote. "The little ones have been very good sports about the whole thing. They are still clinging to the hope that the van can be fixed in the morning".

The next morning, Dad and Binki headed back west to deal with the van. Tom Jones Ford in Buckeye said they couldn't look at it until the following Thursday. Kurt's Auto said the week after that. They finally called Tonopah Joe's back and spoke with the owner, a fellow named Jim, who "couldn't understand why we didn't give him a shot at fixing it". Dad told him frankly about Arnie's impression of the night crew. Jim said his regular day mechanic was on duty.

While they waited in "the restaurant at Tonopah Joe's (it is one of those truck stop/bar/garage/automobile recycler/restaurant combinations that one often sees along the Interstates)," Dad noted approvingly that "the rest rooms were actually reasonably clean, a good sign". By 11:30, Jim had no diagnosis, so Dad and Binki resigned themselves to renting a van from Earnhardt's. They were east of Dysart Road ("Did I comment that I now know that freeway as well as I do the Superstition Freeway?") when Nancy called to say the van was ready.

The actual problem? "An electronic part called the modulator, which had failed with the overheating last night". Total bill: less than $200 for everything, including towing. "We got home without a hitch, with the temperature gauge resting well within the normal range and the old van running like the proverbial top". Mom and the kids finally left for L.A. around 2:00 PM, a full day late but intact.

As the repaired van finally hit the open road stretching westward, a cassette tape played The Beach Boys' Sloop John B on repeat. To a seven-year-old Matthias in the back seat, the lyrics about the captain and the cook fighting on a boat were somewhat confusing, but the song's culminating lament captured the collective exhaustion of the desert ordeal perfectly.