After a few hours of my first day on the road, I began to hear a noise from the front of my car when accelerating. A loud hum (roar) that got louder the faster I drove. By the time I reached the hotel in Sarnia, Ontario for my first night, I knew I had a problem. But I pretended it was nothing and put my head in the sand.

Very quickly on the second day I knew it was a problem, and it could be a big problem if I broke down. My second night I was going to stay in Altoona, Iowa. After this it would be lots of corn fields with no services for many miles. If I were to break down out there, it would suck. I was imagining what I would do if my car was stuck on the side of highway 80 in the middle of Nebraska. I would have to some how get towed to a Tesla service center, with my dog. The nearest Tesla service would probably be hundreds of miles away. The weekend was approaching and all service centers would be closed.

I was starting to spiral with worry. After many conversations with my wife, she was able to settle me down to where I could let reason dictate my plan. I would go to a Tesla Service center 20 minutes away, and in my direction.

I got there an hour before they opened and waited. When the doors opened, I practically ran across the lot ahead of other customers that had shown up. I told the service manager my situation, I was traveling across the country and needed it fixed. Could he squeeze me in today, Friday? He began to give me that shake of the head and said “I don’t know we are pretty busy.” I then mentioned I had a dog and he looked at me and said he could at least listen to it and let me know if it was safe to drive. 

Ten minutes later I was taking a mechanic for a test drive while Bo was licking the guy’s ears from the back seat. Within 30 seconds of listening he told me he knew what it was and to make a U-turn. Back at the service bay he said something to the manager. The manager said it was the bearings and he could have it done in two hours. I enthusiastically said “Do it!”