Dude! Where's my truck?

I have never had a vehicle stolen before so my first thought was that I parked somewhere else and had forgotten. I walked around looking at all my usual spots but my truck was nowhere to be found. I called the the police department and within a few hours they showed up to take the report.

"Did you lock the vehicle?" the officer asked blandly.

"Of course"

"Are you sure you locked the vehicle?" he raised an eyebrow and gave me a quizzical look. 

"I am positive," I replied.

The policeman sighed heavily, "OK then, we'll do a report" 

Needless to say my first encounter with the Galveston Police Department left some doubt as if I would ever see my truck in one piece again. The report was taken and then I heard nothing for a few days. Finally I emailed to see if there was any chance of seeing it again. This is the email response I received...


Sir, vehicles are recovered daily with some never being
recovered. Your vehicle is entered in a nation wide system for stolen
vehicles as well as a document sent to local and area Law Enforcement
agencies outlining recent stolen vehicles. If you have any questions please
feel free to contact me.
Galveston PD/Auto Theft

Now I was really bummed. The truck was not expensive but it was being used in the filming of the Fat Triathlete movie. With the project over 30% complete the loss of the truck would screw up a lot of hard work. I finally gave up after a week and hoped that it was at least being used as a school bus in a third world country. 

The next day I realized someone had been making unauthorized charges on my credit card. The card was old and was supposed to have been cancelled some weeks ago. I am positive had I needed it for some emergency it wouldn't have worked but the crooks managed to use it without any problems. I immediately called the police department to let them know about the card and the fact that it had been used only a few blocks from home. After thirty minutes on hold I was asked to call back on Monday since it was a weekend and there weren't many people in the office. I was informed that office hours were 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. This is a good thing to know, so you can plan your emergencies....

Three days later I receive a call that my truck had been recovered less than 5 miles from my home. I rushed over to find that except for the broken collar and popped door lock the truck was fine! All my stuff was still in the truck sans the old credit card and my digital camera. Turns out the thief was using my truck to steal other vehicles and carry away the parts.The Galveston police department did come through for me and it turns out they were working hard on the case and already had a lead on who had stolen it.

I am ecstatic that the truck was returned basically unharmed but I have to admit I was getting a lot more bike miles in when it was gone. Maybe I need to pretend it is stolen more often.

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