An unexpected event can end in tragedy!! so Listen Up!! Truckers are some of the most careful,cautious, and plan ahead people in the world. This driver had the latest technology and the best driving record and the finest planned mobile castle any fuzzy ever dreamed of. But one tiny possibility slipped thru the preparations and the result was tragic.. Many fuzzy owners love too take their fuzzys with them on trip whether business or pleasure, and truckers alone o the road for thousands of miles a month are no different. Some like this fellow make elaborate habitaats for their traveling buddies equipped with every thing any fur child could possibly want or need. The boot of the truck is well equipped to keep the little furry sidekick in the greatest of comfort and allows for play room and lots of interaction with the driver both while on the road and when stopped. No expense is spared to assure the safety and health of their mobile carpet shark. Because they actually live a large percentage of their lives in their trucks they take far more care and put vastly more thought into being sure everything is thought of and every possible problem is anticipated. Unlike more normal car jockeys that only plan for each trip as it comes and can find themselves in various predicaments that rely on immediate help being close by. The temperature in the Mohave deset was well over a hundred that day.. but the driver and his two girls were rocketing along in the latest model of modern trucking luxury.. The outside conditions were not any more concern than they had ever been. He had the CB for trouble and the cellular for backup and even that was caution overkill as he had never had any real trouble in all his years on the road..he planned ahead and kept his rig in the very best of tip top condition! So when his truck motor suddenly died he wasn't unduly worried..he had redundant battery back up and could usually find and fix the problems, as rare as they were, in a few minutes at most. He braked to a stop in the break down lane and set about finding the problem. It was a few miutes later he noticed somethig funny..his air conditioning in the cab had sighed to a stop. So he walked around and tried to get electrical power to transfer from the back up system to restart the air that kept the cab comfortable. Nothing.. so he started really hunting in earnest. While he tried to locate the trouble the wind began to blow and within about 15 minutes it was beginning to blow sand into the air. He climbed back into the cab as the sand storm rapidly reduced visibility to nearly zero. Figureing it was time to call in the tow truck he snapped on his CB rig only to discover it was not coming on..the red telltale that indicated it was recieving electrical current from the batteries stayed dark and nothing else in the truck was working either. By this time it was getting Hot in the cab so he figured this was what he had paid all those many months of Cellular bills for and grabbed his phone. But he hadn't planned on the sand storm or his distance from a town of any size. By now the cab was uncomfortqbly hot and getting worse by the minute. One look at the little girls in their enclosure told him they were in trouble. And it wasn't long before he was suffering badly too. By the time the storm passed and his phone worked the cab was oven hot and he was barely aware enough to make the call for help.. It was another 45 minutes before the wrecker arrived and by then the tiny fur kids were both in a coma. The driver had both heat stroke and sun stroke from standing outside trying to flag down help. When the driver stggered into a small diner in the tiny town with tears running down his face and one limp fuzzy in each hand pleading for help for them they were in a desperate condition. There was no vet there and none open for many many miles in any direction much less one that knew ferrets..not in the only state in the union that still had laws denying him the right to have his precious pets. He slumped into a booth and held his babies to his chest and prayed and cried over them in total anguish and gut wrenching fear. The nite waitress walked in the door on this scene and knew immediately what was going on..she had ferrets herself..handicapped ones she had adopted a few months before. And thats when my pager went off! I returned the call and was told a very fast mover was leaving immediately on a non-stop high speed run to bring me two very sick ferrets. I figured up the miles vs time later and the driver must have averaged over 90 mph for most of the way. With other truckers running interference all the way. I recieved the little girls Molllie and Millie and got them into the infirmary and hydrated as soon as was possible. Neither was responsive and after two hours with no change they were started on IV's and placed in cool soft dark enclosures to let them overcome the severe heat stroke they both had... All I could do was let the driver so very far away and so sick himself know they were still alive but there was no change. The longer they were in heat shock the worse the final damage might prove to be. At a day and a half and still no sign of returning awareness the driver and the waiting group of friends knew nothing was going to bring his babies back to him..it had been too long. I did not agree but felt to give him any false hope would be very cruel so I just told them on the phone to sit tight and pray, the fight wasn't over yet. Well, those two little girls must have loved him a very great deal and wanted awfully badly to come back to be with this loving man because at nearly two days they both woke up within the same hour and in another hour were hungry and munching and drinking like crazy. I called as soon as I was completely sure they were going to stay and the whoops of glee could be heard clear across the room. They both looked up and it was evident they knew their beloved Daddy's voice. And wanted to go home! They go back to their Daddy this weekend when his truck is fixed and he comes for them.. What was wrong? A fifty cent little electrical relay switch deep in the engine failed and terminated ALL electrical power to all parts of thae truck.. This time the little ones lived.. Let's hope there never is a next time! AND IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANY ONE OF US!!! food for thought don't you think??? dayna dayna frazier 102046,3162 'resident of the 'Marvellous Menagerie of Mirthful Mayhem' MMOMM!!! [Posted in FML issue 1593]