Good news!
Old Blue made it all the way to the Big City without a hiccup. AND there was no snow, ice, or even hellacious amounts of rain to hinder us. (I mean, there was rain of course; there always is. But not the biblical deluge the weather person warned of.)
Even better. The specialist recommended against surgery. He says he’ll do it if I want, but that no harm will come to me from not having it. Well, that’s a no-brainer.
More good news. I made it to the town with the float tank and am now safely ensconced in a motel room, awaiting pizza delivery. (Yes, total decadence. The temptation was too much on a day when I otherwise ate only six raw almonds and four dried apricots. Too nervous, too busy to deal with meals.)
The bad news: About 30 miles outside of town Old Blue started showing symptoms of a vacuum leak. I’ve been in touch with my mechanic and he gave me some things to look for as I run errands in the morning. The big question is whether I can safely drive the remaining miles home or whether I’ll need to annoy AAA again.
But even in the bad news there’s good news. After all my regretful nay-saying to those private suggestions about (alas, non-existent) trains, buses, and rental cars (the last one even coming with an offer to pay 🙂 ), I’ve actually landed in a town that has a car rental.
More good news: I’ll never have to go back to that damned Big City again (cross fingers). That part of the travel suuuuuuuuuucked. I’ll probably have a little blogitude on some of the more amusing parts of the trip. But for now, the pizza delivery guy draws near.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. FWIW, I had thought about suggesting the possibility of your parking in a commercial lot and then taking Uber to the University so you wouldn’t have to deal with the worst of the city traffic, but then I figured you probably had already considered that.
Wonderful news about the surgery, but too bad about the car. Hang in there, and come home safe. 🙂
Glad you got good news and are having a safe trip!
I guess it’s just a matter of standards. I thought all old cars were *supposed* to have vacuum leaks. …
Thank you for the good cheer, guys. Now, all I want to do is make the last leg of the trip safely — then never leave my little town again as long as I live. Seriously, the more I travel, the more I hate it. And with an old car, it ain’t pretty.
My dear neighbor J. (who is dogsitting Ava), has local connections here and gave me the name of a trusted mechanic. He’s only a mile from where I’m staying and two blocks from the place with the float tank. If he’s available, I’ll ask him to put Old Blue on a lift and check it out just in case.
Are you a Peperoni or Canadian Bacon kinda of person?
Get home safe young lady!
Pepperoni! But I will happily go for pepperoni, Canadian bacon AND sausage if you’re offering.
Last night it was a taco pizza. Even though they forgot to bring the sides of lettuce and salsa, it was still pretty good. And soooooo decadent.
Even after eating some of it cold for breakfast, I have half a pizza to take home. But wouldn’t you know it? It’s already in the mid-50s today and I’m having a hard time keeping it safely cold.
What a relief to hear the good news about the surgery!! In comparison, Old Blue is merely a minor annoyance. Hope you’re having a great float experience.
Good, I can breath again. To say I’m happy about your news would be a heck of an understatement. Enjoy the pizza and don’t sweat the small stuff like the car. Cars can be fixed, they ain’t worth loosing sleep over.
Yup, that big city is definitely to be avoided. Great to hear the good news — everything else just adds to the adventure.
Good news about you not having to deal with surgery, Claire!
My wife and I started traveling and staying in motels/hotels again back in 2008. We traveled to see our son play college football, and treated those trips as mini-vacations. We’re still traveling to see him as after he and his wife graduated from college, they’ve been living in Colorado. Since our grandson was born in September, there’s even more of an impetus to travel out to Colorado to see them. Outside of the whole airport experience (it’s too far for us to drive), we enjoy these trips thoroughly, including chillaxing in the hotel room at the end of the day and in the mornings.