An Interesting Way to Jump Start a Truck

 To follow up on yesterday's post, aside from fishing at a farm pond, my sons and I also spent the night at my cabin that was located nearby.  It was a night filled with old stories, owls, and cooler than expected temperatures.  We woke up the next morning and got packed up like we have done so many times, but when it came time to fire up the truck, there was no fire.  There was nothing...just some quick clicks when I turned the key.  Just like that, my heart was in my stomach.  My two boys looked confused but I knew exactly what happened.  Even after I checked all the lights before going to sleep, by battery still got drained.  I believe that a loose wire on the trailer (which I left hooked up to the truck) drained the battery overnight. 

Panic set in.  Then I started making calls.  All of my nearby relatives were an hour away or more.  We knocked on the closest neighbor's door (almost a half mile away), and they weren't home.  That's when I started to get desperate.  Sure, we weren't in any real trouble.  I had food and water even though it was getting warm but I wanted to get my sons home and I hated to wait for and ask for help.  I actually had a power pack and I tried to ump the truck with it but we drained a lot of it when we used it to power the lighting system in the cabin the night before.  Then my dad suggested something.

It sounded crazy at first.  I had already kicked around the idea but it just seemed out of the realm of possibilities.  However, I had time on my hands and it was the last thing I could think of.  I set up the system that seemed standard, but I had always done this with another vehicle involved.  When the key turned and the motor turned over, my heart raced.  When the engine fired up and kept running, words left my mouth that I am glad my sons could not hear.  I disconnected the system and the look of surprise on my son's faces made me feel pretty proud.  I quickly informed them that their grandpa had saved the day but also said that there was a lesson to be learned. 

I told them that when faced with a problem, take some deep breathes and brainstorm some solutions.  I told them that sometimes you can fix your problems yourself and that feels pretty good.  I also told them that we all learned a valuable lesson on this particular day that we can carry with us for the rest of our lives.  We also learned that a trolling motor battery can jump a dead battery in a pickup truck.