$150 is nothing.
About ten years ago, me and my then boyfriend went camping in Utah. We had a map with us that listed lots of dirt roads and such, and had been having a blast with it. We found little hidaways on state land and beautiful canyons and such, and overall were having a great time. That is, until we got to the Henry mountains.
We were in my little 2 wheel drive truck, and found a dirt road that took us through a pass and over the mountains. Cool! It was a beautiful day out, clear and warm. We set out.
On the way, I noticed that there were many large ranches marked on the map. We watched them go by, commenting on how this map seemed to be a good one - whereever the map said there was a ranch, we could see the ranch buildings, the pastures, etc.
We got up into the mountains. Still was going good. Nice roads. Everything looked fine… until we made a wrong turn. A wrong turn down a steep embankment. One covered with a good foot of mud. The wrong turn led to a dead end. We were stuck.
We proceeded to spend the next 4 hours trying every means available to get out. I won’t go into it, but we tried EVERYTHING. It wasn’t happening.
By then, it was about 4:00. We had to make a decision. We discussed the possiblity that the mud might freeze overnight, and we could drive out in the morning. Still, it would be nice to be on our way tonight, let’s look at the map. I got it out and took a look. We were at least 30 miles from the nearest paved road. But… there was a ranch marked on the map, not ten miles from where we were. We had our mountiain bikes. 10 miles on a mountain bike on a dirt road isn’t a big deal. Whoo hoo! We were saved!
We got on our bikes. My boyfriend insisted on taking our tent and some food, just in case. Turns out that was a really great idea. We got about a mile away from where we got stuck, and the mud started. We couldn’t ride the bikes any more, the mud was just too deep. We pushed 'em for another mile, hoping to get out of the mud. Then it started to get dark. And cold.
We figured we oughta set up the tent and spend the night. No problems, we had everything we needed. We’d find the ranch in the morning. Of course, as soon as I got off the bike and stopped moving, I realized I soaked in sweat. It was cold. I started to get hypothermic. Boyfriend threw me in the tent, in a sleeping bag, with the dog. He heated up some warm water and some beans and rice. I finally warmed up, and we went to sleep.
I woke up a couple times in the night. The wind was howling through the mountains. It was cold, even in my brand spankin’ new -5 degree bag.
When we awoke in the morning, the water bottles we had inside the tent with us were frozen solid. The mud had frozen to the brake levers of our bikes - big solid chunks of mud the size of grapefruit. We had to chip it off with rocks. Sometimes the rocks broke.
We kept going, certain that the ranch was just ahead. We even saw a sign pointing the way. Luckily, it warmed up, and the day was nice.
20 or 25 miles later, there was still no ranch. We came out of the mountains, though, and found a paved highway. We flagged down a truck. The people were nice, and gave us a ride to the nearest town, Hanksville.
Hanksville is basically a wide spot in the road. We checked into a hotel which was coincidentally owned by Carl, the only person in town who had a tow truck. We explained our situation to Carl, and he agreed to go get us out, but not until the next morning.
Meanwhile, I called my boss, and told her the whole story, and told her I’d be an extra day getting back. She screamed at me and told me that I HAD to be back tomorrow. I told her we had no car, it was impossible. She screamed back. But that’s another story.
Next morning, boyfriend went with Carl to get the truck. Carl insisted on bringing another guy to “help.” Carl did NOT bring his tow truck. He brought a 4 wheel drive truck, except the 4 wheel drive was broken.
Meanwhile, I spent the morning in Hanksville. I chatted some with the grocery store cashier. I explained our situation. She let out a low whistle and said “well, Carl will get you out. He’ll take you for all you’re worth, but he’ll get you out. He’s the only tow truck driver in 150 miles, and he takes advantage of that.”
Great.
They got back at around noon. Boyfriend tells me that they got to the truck, and Carl told boyfriend to go get in it and drive it out. The mud was frozen. No towing was involved. Good thing, since they hadn’t brought a tow truck.
Carl then waltzes over and hands us a bill. We were being charged for his time, his buddy’s time, plus an inflated mileage charge. And a towing charge. And for gas. Note that Carl and Buddy didn’t leave their truck once during the whole thing.
The bill came to slightly over $500. We knew we were being screwed, but there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. Once we got back home, we looked into the situation a bit more, and called a couple local tow companies to get an estimate of what they’d charge for the same service, same mileage, etc. Most told us it would run between $150 - $175, AND they’d have brought a tow truck.
We later figured out it would have been cheaper to have taken a taxi to get our truck.
If you’re ever in Hanksville, please make it a point to flip off any tow truck drivers you see.