usrider member, usrider member story, usrider membership, usrider membership information, usrider trailer tips
I just read “Shasta Lake Adventure”
in the Winter 2010 issue of Hitch Up!
That story prompted me to share my
story. But first, I have to share an experience
I had before I discovered USRider!
Frazzled in Mobile
My young, green-broke Morgan
(Yankee) and I were on our way to my
trainer’s farm for a clinic very early one
Saturday morning. I lived just north of
Biloxi, Mississippi, and my trainer lived
in southern Alabama, on the other side
of the Mobile Bay Bridge.
Everything was going fine until I hit
Mobile. Just before I reached the Mobile
Bay Bridge, another driver started flashing
his lights at me and pulled me over.
Something had overheated — there was
a lot of smoke coming from underneath
my truck!
I pulled off the interstate, and started
driving around Mobile, randomly hoping
that I would come across some
place that would help me. I finally found
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHARON GRAY
Member Story
Helpless No More
what looked like a garage that was open
on a Saturday morning.
I pulled in and spoke to a lady
behind a heavy piece of glass (turned
out it wasn’t a very safe neighborhood).
She suggested I try another place and
gave me directions. I went to the next
place and hung out there for a couple of
hours while I waited my turn. Fortunately,
it was a much safer neighborhood,
and it was a cool morning, so I was able
to open the trailer doors and let Yankee
feel the breezes. But being stuck waiting
was a very lonely feeling! And, frankly,
no one cared that I was sitting in the
parking lot with a horse in the trailer.
Finally, they determined that my
transmission was overheating and sent
me to yet another place. I finally found
it and again waited for a while there.
The attendant said there was nothing
they could do on a Saturday. He told me
to just drive slowly and cautiously, and I
would “probably” be okay.
I hopped on the interstate heading
8
south to get back to I-10, where we had
started hours before. When we came
to the intersection where we had to
choose east or west on I-10, I gave some
serious thought about just heading
home after the five-hour ordeal. But I
chose to go to my trainer’s farm instead.
I finally arrived there — about six hours
late.
Yankee was not happy that he’d had
to stand in the trailer for so long. And I
was totally frazzled. In fact, I ended up
with a broken arm that afternoon.
A Breeze on the Border
Fast forward about 10 years. I am
now a Member of USRider and live
close to Macon, Georgia. One time,
Yankee and I were on the way home
from my trainer’s place near Gainesville,
Florida. We stopped at the Florida-
Georgia border for gas and food. After I
came out of the truck stop, I climbed in
and my truck would not start!
I called USRider, and they offered
“[USRider] found someone to change the tire, and we were back on the road
within the hour!” says Linda Gray of one disablement experience. Here, she’s
shown with her Morgan, Yankee, at Dragon’s Lair Farm in Newberry, Florida
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.