Because the Volvo hospital in Vegas is now closed and the local mechanic thought it was too serious to perform surgery in the parking lot. I drive the patient the 100 miles to the next nearest Volvo shop. I was hoping for a terminal diagnosis and the only solution would be to put the beast out of its misery.

The diagnosis is critical but not terminal. I was hoping for a quick painless death to this problem, but instead I get to apply another bandage and continue on. We have a plan in place in the case of a sudden death but I guess it’s not time yet, so I’ll keep dragging this beast to the next load and the next load after that.

I was ready to get an estimate that was going to be so expensive that I couldn’t afford to fix it and the solution would have been simple. Put the beast down, call Volvo and tell them where it’s at. But instead I get more pain and another bandage to keep on trucking. It’s just enough where it would be silly to let the truck go because of a relatively small repair. It’s still a big bill, but in the big picture, not impossible.

The shop in Vegas closed down so I had to drive to Saint George and buy a new camshaft that is being shipped from Germany. It would have been under warranty except that the roller bearing isn’t under warranty and that’s the part that broke and screwed up the camshaft. These manufacturers aren’t stupid, they know what breaks and what doesn’t. Good thing I don’t care otherwise I’d be really upset about waiting a week for a part. I am really glad this happened so close to home.

So we go back to the plan of a trip a month or so, make the payment, put it up for sale or find a driver.