Jaunted

Circa 1996, my buddies and I drove down to Vegas for the Dead shows at the Silver Bowl. Typical stuff: non-stop driving overnight, 3 guys drinking in the back seat while the 2 of us up front to ignore them and switch off driving. We only hit one rabbit on the way--luckily, not the kind that Volkswagen makes.

We finally make it to our hotel, crash out and get up the next day to prep for the shows. Since we had hooked up with another group of friends that had flown down, we realized we'd need a bigger car. So, off to the car rental pages in the phonebook we go, and find a place that will rent us a van: Rent-A-Wreck.

The price is good and the van is available, but when we go to pick it up, we find a BRAND NEW van. There are 400 miles on the odometer and not a scratch on it. In other words, it's not your typical Rent-A-Wreck offering. My buddy goes in to fill out the paperwork, and we are off.

Three days later, after many trips in the van with ALL sorts of drunken debauchery, we drive the van back to the Rent-A-Wreck place to return it. Just as we're pulling into the parking lot, I pass too close to a temporary construction sign on the road and put a 4 foot gash down the side of the van.

The rental car guy sees this and comes out yelling as we pull into the parking lot. "This is VERY bad. You will owe BIG TIME for this!". I cower in the car, thinking about how I'm going to pay for the damage, while my buddy tries to reason with the manager.

He comes back towards the van, and I roll down the window to hear the bad news. "Dude, he wants $900 to fix the damage." No chance that I have that kind of money--I'm following the Dead here! "But, I got him down to $100 cash. I told him that he got what he advertised: A wreck!"

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[Photo: cplbasilisk]