As they buzzed along Interstate 87, "The red light came on and the engine went down and it stopped. And Clarence pulled over to the side," she said of the associate Supreme Court justice and proud RV driver.

"I was like 'uh-oh' and was getting ready for a long time sitting on the side of the road," she added.

Fair enough, since Thomas doesn't appear to have the talents of a mechanic. But he's a "tinkerer," she revealed in the new book Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words, the follow-up to a movie of the same name released two years ago.

"He got out of the driver's seat, and he went to the back of the bus on the outside. He came back inside. I was thinking of, 'Who do I call for help?'" she told co-author Mark Paoletta.

But instead, the judge hopped in the spacious driver's seat, turned the key, and off they went.