Fords - Built Tough

[SEGsby]

We're still glad to hear from you.

Hang in there, it will get better.

SEGsby

Originally Posted by Eric Payne

I'm here. I've just been something of an emotional wreck and not been doing anything. Today was first time I've picked email in a couple/three days.

Okay, it's been a week since the F-150 and I had our dangerous liaison. I thought I'd just bring it up to date.

Gilligan WASN'T destroyed, believe it or not. Somehow, instead of breaking off, the CS simply... well, popped out is the best way to describe it. I don't know how it happened, my dealer doesn't know how it happened, but it did. So just popped it back in place, secured it and, somehow, Gilligan was up and running again.

The left side of Gilligan pretty scratched up, including fender, rain guard, and tire. The wheel itself was "pinched in" a bit, but for some reason, the gear box was, apparently, spared any damage.

I put in the red key, he started up, and I went out for a looooong glide - about 12 miles from home to Bill's office to load Gilligan up to go to the dealer. That was Friday.

On that glide, I noticed strange sounds Gilligan was making - a second, lower humming tick that is in synch with the higher pitched hum of Gilligan's motors. Every so often, there'd be this "scrunch" noise... almost like two pieces of plastic pressing, forcibly, against each other, and I noticed I had to turn the grip further to make turns then I had before the accident, as well as a constant pull to the left.

Unfortunately, my dealer, just running Gilligan in his showroom and around the parking lot can't reproduce the sounds; as for the turning, he compared the turn of Gilligan to the turn of another 180 and they're not all that different, to him. But like I said - and my dealer agreed - because I spend so much time on Gilligan, just as a car owner knows their car, I know my Segway, and I'm going to pick up on a "little thing" faster than someone not used to how it normally operated before the accident.

Since I've been without the use of Gilligan for the past week, the driver's insurance company is sending me a check to cover that equal to about a week-and-a-half rental of a Segway from Contemporide (nee Segway of Phoenix).

My dealer is checking with INC, and INC is checking with their legal department to determine if Gilligan should be sent back to them to be checked out; if he does have to go, the insurance adjuster told me - with an 8 week turn around, and the cost of a rental per week for a minimum of 8 weeks - they'd probably just go ahead and total it out, and make arrangements with my dealer to provide me with a new unit.

And... since they have no use for Gilligan as they do with wrecked cars, the adjuster doesn't think there'd be a problem with me paying them a minimal payment to also keep Gilligan.

The unfortunate thing is, just after Bill makes a counteroffer to his employer concerning our relocation (which he's been told by his immediate supervisor will most likely be accepted), I've got three doctor appointments, an EKG and a blood-thinner lab coming up, spread out over Wednesday, Thursday and Monday of next week. Only one of them is accessible through public transportation - so Bill's going to have to take some time off work, just as people who have, publicly, stated no one should be relocated, Phoenix staff should just be laid off and new hires made in Atlanta, will be making their decision on our counteroffer.

The upside? If through all this my heart hasn't decided to just skip town on me, this darned thing in my chest must be working - though it still feels strange to me to scratch my chest, and suddenly feel the edges of a box (about the size of a closed cellular flip-phone) under the skin.