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A happening
I like small town America. Usually laid back, easy living, but sometimes it can be challenging. When we parked in Presho, SD, (population 588 in 2000 census) we set the trailer up, lowered the landing legs and got ready to unhook the truck. The tailgate wouldn't open. Pull, yank, jerk, still wouldn't open.
Then the main water hose was leaking. It was about 3 years-old and mineral deposits had welded the brass quick disconnects to the threads on the hose. No hardware store in town. Discovered a lumber yard though. The park hostess offered her car for me to go. They only had an over-priced garden hose. Ok, now we have water.
In the meantime, the off duty hostess came in and the on duty one told her of my tailgate plight. She called her son, a wiry, baby-faced, 17 year-old, who drove up in a "convertible" (because he had taken a welding torch to it) that was uglier than anything I had ever seen actually running. He pops out and says, "Mom said you have a problem."
This scrawny kid climbs into the bed and contorts himself under the overhang and takes the panel off the tailgate and opens it up. Then he made the proper adjustments to the latch mechanism, puts it back together, tests it and says, "That'll be twenty bucks."
That made the fact that I had a forgotten spare hose and didn't need to buy that over-priced garden hose at all, much more tolerable. I can just imagine what a dealership would have charged me. With my size and age, there was absolutely no way for me to do it myself.
Small town USA may lack in resources, but seem to come up with resourcefulness.
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