In typical Bird fashion, my trip didn’t start out exactly as planned…What should have been a routine tire rotation before leaving Roanoke ended up being a 6 1/2 hour long process of getting a CV Shaft installed, and then…after breaking down on the off-ramp coming off of I-581 onto Orange Ave…realizing that the parts place sent them the WRONG PART.
Well, that shouldn’t have been too big a deal, right? –oh, I seem to have gotten ahead of my story! Well, as I said, the car broke down on the off-ramp, just as I was merging onto Orange Ave. The LOUD GRINDING NOISE kinda gave me a hint that SOMETHING was wrong. Uhm, that doesn’t sound too good…and then the fact that after a couple of jerking motions the axle froze…well that wasn’t too good either. Even in my tired state I had a clue that something wasn’t quite right!I called the shop (Merchant’s Tire on Franklin Rd.) and after being lulled by their hold music I got a live person who offered to send a tow truck for me.
In the meantime, my best friend, Debbie, showed up to make sure I was OK (friend’s are awesome!) and after about 20 minutes, 6 police officers in 4 squad cars also dropped by and protected me and my poorly positioned car from traffic. It was funny at the time, because there were so many of them that showed up…I kept thinking, “I hope no one from church drives by and thinks I’m being arrested or something”…yeah, tired minds think weird things! 😀 Well, the tow truck showed up (and so did another good friend..thanks Shelley!), and brought me and the Kia back to the shop. I sat down to wait…again.
Now the plan had been to be in Atlanta by 7pm Tuesday Night (you know…strange area..daylight…etc). I was going to look up my CouchSurfing host (Amy) where I’m staying Wed-Fri night to meet her in advance. By 12:15 I was getting the feeling that I might not make my plan happen…At some point after that I had a chance to ask the nice man (who seemed to have bad news for each customer) what the status was on my car. It was then that I learned that they were still waiting on the RIGHT part. It seems that every CV Shaft that was delivered was a repeat of the first incorrect one! The accuracy of their parts providers just exudes confidence in them!!! NOT!
Still…I had to laugh, as I am right now (at 5:10am in my hotel room in Statesville, NC multiple hours late for my 8:00am workshop in Duluth, GA. Only 5 hours away…I digress…) it was all very comical to me the whole time it was happening. That, of course, comes from the fact that when things start to happen I try to run to God first and trust in Him as my source (I think I’ve heard a wise man say something about that a time or two recently…thanks Pastor!). Well, several CV Shafts and several hours later, I finally rolled out of the Merchant’s parking lot. It was only 3pm by that time…no sweat! I still had about an hour or so worth of running to do before I could leave Roanoke, so I didn’t actually leave town until close to 4:30pm. So much for making the Atlanta International Hostel for the night. Their Check-In Desk closes at midnight.
One fact I forgot to mention earlier is that I’d only had 1 hour sleep Monday night…go ahead, make that sarcastic comment. I know you want to! Anyway, by 4:30pm I wasn’t the most rested person. I downed a bottle of the 5-hour Herbal “Keep You Awake” Stuff. Uhn-huh, sure! By the time I got to Statesville, NC my body was saying STOP! NOW! Which I did. Which is why I am here. I tried to log on to the free WiFi when I got here to send “a couple quick e-mails” (yeah…I know…), but it wouldn’t let me online! Funny (yeah, Lord, funny!) when I got up at 2am it let me on without any problem…OK, so I needed the sleep.
Well, I’ve put in an hour and a half of work this morning and need to shut up and get on the road. So I’ll update you all later on. Love to all my family and friends! Sandi
Ohhhhhh dear…..can’t the Birds ever have normal road trips?? LOL! Love you mom!! ;O)