Oh boy, what a weekend.

So my wife and I went to ArmadilloCon.  She went to hawk her wares, and I went to pick the brains of any authors who were brave enough to subject themselves to questions from the masses.  We loaded up the truck, and left after I got off work on Thursday night.
We made it as far as LaGrange, when the truck suddenly stopped getting into any gear other than first.  We pulled over, and steam from the engine convinced us to shut it off.  It was late, and we were in not-quite-but-damn-close to the middle of nowhere.  Triple A proved useless, as we were farther away from a repair place than my wife's contract would make them tow us.  The only friend we had that was going to the con was already there.
We called an old friend who was over in San Antonio on business, and who had web access.  He was able to guide us to a hotel a mile down the road, and we crashed there for the night.  The next day, he drove all the way to LaGrange, picked us up and loaded our stuff (including my wife's entire booth setup) into his truck and drove us to Austin.  He helped get everything into the hotel, before he drove back to San Antonio.
My wife worked the Con, and I helped a bit, but sales were down from the previous year.  My wife, being a bit more socially minded than I am, asked around for anyone who had a truck and who might be willing to tow hers back to Houston.
One of the other writers at the con, a guy who had a table in the dealer's room, volunteered to help us out.  He not only gave my wife a ride over to LaGrange, but took her to buy a towing mount to pull her truck.  Of course, the damn thing didn't fit, and we ended up talking to the manager of the hotel, who was kind enough to let us leave the truck there until we got back to Houston and figured out a new plan.  During that part of the adventure, I was back at the Con, tearing down my wife's booth, loading it into the same truck of the same friend who had come all the way back to Austin, just to help us out.  Have I mentioned that he had his infant son with him?  This guy was carefully stacking our gear in the bed of his truck while also keeping his baby in arm's reach and out of trouble.  On our way back to Houston, we stopped to make sure my wife had gotten her truck going, which of course, she hadn't.
Eventually, we got back to Houston, and I'm now biking to work until we sort this mess out.  My wife is off to another Con this coming weekend, and I'll be stuck in Houston because I couldn't get time off.
Both the guys who helped us are owed major thanks, and if I can get their permissions I'll put up links to them.  They really pulled our fat out of the fire.