If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted to the Bug Tripping blog in a while, it’s because the Bug flew back to its VW hive. In 2015 the EPA gave Volkswagen notice that the company had violated the Clean Air Act when it was discovered it had programmed the TDI diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during testing. Once the diesels were sold, the engines emitted up to 40 times more noxious fumes than in the tests.

H and I had felt pretty smug when on a cross-country trip we were getting 50 miles to the gallon. Little did we know we were leaving a trail of toxicity across the U.S.

Fortunately, VW made good with its customers. They bought back the Bug and gave us $1000 in gift cards. With the windfall, we purchased a 2016 Nissan Leaf, an electric car we were sure wouldn’t pollute the environment.

The trick was finding charging stations. Since a charge got us just a hundred miles—less if we were using headlights and heat or a/c—we had to use a charging app to find plug-ins and be sure we could get to one before running out of power.

All was well and good until one winter night when H was driving home from playing hockey. We live in a rural area with the closest charging station thirty miles away. It was midnight and -7 degrees. H figured he could make it home where he could plug in the Leaf. What he didn’t figure into his estimate was using the brights along the country road and blasting heat to keep his toes from freezing.

Within ten miles of home, the Leaf drifted to a stop. There wasn’t a car on the road, so hitchhiking was not looking hopeful, and I was out of town and not able to come to his rescue.

H was lucky to have a couple of bars on his cell phone and called AAA.

“We can be there in two hours,” he was told.

“I’ll freeze to death by then,” he said.

What to do?

Searching his wallet, he found the number for a guy he knew who had a truck and a flatbed trailer. The fellow had helped H move a homemade outhouse a couple months earlier, but that’s another story. Anyway, H knew he was a nice guy and gave him a call.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes,” he said, his voice full of sleep. In dire straits, H had gotten him out of bed.

The fellow was true to his word, got the Leaf onto the trailer, and deposited it within reach of the home charger. AAA would pay him for his trouble.

Lesson learned.

The Bug may be gone, but I’m not done with bugs yet. Stay tuned for a different kind of bug tripping in the next post.