AAA Roadside Assistance - SEVERELY LACKING - 6 HOURS ON THE ROADSIDE NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

POOR DAVE!!!! Friday Dave and Tim drove from Huntsville, AL to Topeka, KS and didn’t get there until the wee hours of Saturday morning. Yesterday afternoon (Saturday), Dave drove to Shawnee, to meet me to pick up a puppy to show in Topeka & have a belated birthday dinner with our dear friend Laura E. Warman and my sister Vicki Veseling Dike. A nice visit and meal on the patio with the puppy at Barley’s Brewhaus. As Dave was backing out of his parking spot at 6:30, I stopped him and told him that he wasn't going anywhere on those tires. The belt was separating on on. Just lucky he stopped at the exact spot that he did to let someone else back out of their spot, and I looked down exactly when I did. We had them checked and rotated right before he and Tim left on this trip! Luckily there was an NTB about 5 minutes away, where they were fabulous and stayed late to get him back on the road. He left there about 7:25, should have been back in Topeka at 8:25, but before 8:00 he was on the side of the road, and the van wasn't getting any power. Called AAA. After several calls to AAA, and everyone promising to check back with himin 10 - 15 minutes, he received only 1 text back, they kept thinking he was in Bunker Hill, KS - west of Salina, almost 200 miles from where he was! They even asked him for permission to locate him him using his cell phone (didn't even know a private company could do that), which he did. One of the KS State Troopers that stopped by said that their were two mile markers with that same number on I-70, because of the portion that is turnpike. Dave gave them the mile marker number on the KS Turnpike, told them he had just passed a a sign that said LeCompton, KS, ALL EAST of Topeka, and they kept trying to verify that he was in Bunker Hill - 200 MILES WEST of his location,and that they weren't sure that he and his 3 people would fit in the tow truck. WTF???? They never even asked him how many people he had with him. He was driving a 1 Ton van, then when the first tow people called, they were from Bunker Hill. When someone from a Lawrence, KS tow company finally called, only about 12 miles away, they were going to send one of those 'mini pick-up tow trucks!' During all of this nightmare, he had to get out of the van with the crated puppy and go to the other side of the ditch because even when there was no traffic in the left lane the trucks were not moving over. Several times he heard the rumble strips as they were driving down/over the white line. While he was there praying that the van didn't get demolished, some car pulled over in front of the van and a man got out and came right up to Dave accusing him of throwing things at his car!!! This guy obviously wasn’t stable or sober to begin with and could have been totally crazy and robbed or murdered Dave because of the delays caused by AAA's stupidity. Finally they got back to Topeka around 2 AM. It took 4 calls from Dave, 2 calls from the KS Turnpike authority, and 1 from the first tow truck driver in Bunker Hill, to finally get through to them. I still wonder about the vehicle broke down with three people somewhere. Are they still out there waiting? Oh yeah, and the van, started right up this morning, but wouldn't the whole time he was on the side of the road or when he got back last night. Tim is off on a mission to replace a starter or solenoid or something! Wish him luck! I am on a mission to research AARP or other roadside assistance plans. BE SAFE OUT THERE.