We’ve been getting ready for SXSW and I took Newt, our beloved Dodge Sprinter into Glenn E Thomas Dodge in Long Beach a couple days ago. Frank and they guys there have always been good to us and I wanted to make sure Newt would be able to make it to Austin and back safely. They were waiting on a part to fix a broken door handle so I picked the truck up yesterday to take to Dick Clark Productions yesterday where Crash and I slang cream and talked to folks there.
After having a bit to eat with Jeremiah and Vanessa, I drove back to Long Beach to swap out Newt with Bessie (our classic truck). I was going to park Newt in the Dodge lot and drop the key in their drop box but it was ten at night so I just parked across the street where they’d see it in the morning. It was only for ten hours so I didn’t think it’d be a big deal.
Just before nine this morning I called Frank to check on the truck and he said he didn’t see it. After he walked around for 15 minutes to double check he said it was nowhere to be found. I called the Long Beach tow yard and gave them my license plate number and they said they didn’t have it. That’s when I started to worry and think it was stolen…. because everyone wants an ice cream truck, right? I called up the Dodge dealer again and asked to speak with a manager to see if the surveillance cameras they had on the lot showed Spring Street at all. Tom there recommended I call the BMW motorcycle dealership that I was parked in front of to see if they had cameras at all. They didn’t but the nice lady on the phone said she’d ask the people who came in at seven that morning if they saw or heard anything.
At this point it was time to call the police and file a missing vehicle report. I was pretty sure she was gone. While on the phone with the officer a gentleman from BMW called and said that when he arrived at work this morning he found a bunch of broken glass and a bumper in front of the dealership. Someone had told him that the driver of a pickup truck has fallen asleep at the wheel and smashed into a van. Somehow this seemed better than a stolen truck so I wasn’t too, too bummed. I got back on the other line with the officer and he searched for a police report from that area. Sure enough, at 1:00 AM a vehicle hit mine and they towed my vehicle. He couldn’t give me anymore information at the time so I just called the tow yard back and gave them my VIN number as well as mentioned it was an ice cream truck.
Cory and I headed down but they’d only let me in. I could see the top of Newt in the back of the yard and as we drove up to it, on the drivers side, it didn’t look too bad. Once I got around to the other side i realized how smashed up it was. I hopped out to check the very back where the windows had been blown out. The back freezer had been lifted up and was sideways inside the truck. The servering window was busted and there was bent metal all the way up where the speakers are. I only had a few minutes to grab any personal items so I snagged a cooler bag, some auto paper work and the Big Star box set.
I’m not sure what happens now but I just got off the phone with Progressive, my insurance company and they’re going to have someone call me in an hour or so. Guess this means Newt won’t be making it to Austin. Also means we’ll probably have to drive Bessie there, which makes me nervous.
OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!