In which riding in the pouring rain is the better part of the day

Darlene's mare Lola was still lame, so Fiddle and I were solo on the trails 

Sunday morning.  The forecast was "scattered showers", but reality was

RAIN and lots of it.

The Dragon was feeling good so we did a lot of trotting on our usual 7.5 mile loop

When I got back to the trailhead, forward movement stopped happening. 

US Rider to the rescue...again!

If you drive a lot, you will sometimes break down.  If you're gonna break down
with horses in the rig, get yourself some US Rider.  They have saved me many times.

We have learned from long experience that when truck batteries begin to fail, they will will pull the alternator down with them.  The reverse is also true:  when the alternator starts to go bad, it will foul the batteries.

The culprits:  "three year" batteries dated 2013.

The US Rider tow truck showed up promptly and hooked each of the truck batteries to a jump box (the standard jump box will NOT lift a truck battery, these were heavy-duty).  Wait a few seconds and...VROOOOOM. 

Vroom. Vroom. Vroooo....um...rooo? 

Silence.

So yeah:  the alternator too.

Sigh.

Santa Jim is my hero

Jim came out to the trailhead to verify the diagnosis (and to deliver chocolates to me and to the tow truck driver).

Then he drove his van over to the auto parts store, procured new batteries and a new alternator, drove back to the trailhead, and installed them (I helped, but he has TOOLS in his van!)

Believe it or not, the rain stayed away the whole time we were out of the truck working.  But as soon as we were back on the road again, there was rain.

And also:

Oh, hail.

 We got home safely, before dark.  I made soup. We watched a movie. 

So really, it was hardly a bad day at all.