| Home Again |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|06:11 am] |
Well we are home, in one piece, or mostly anyway...
I feel like I've gained about 20 lbs over the past week. I don't think I'll be taking a look at the scale any time soon. D:
We had some pretty rough hurdles to overcome on our way home.
First we drove and drove until ~1am, stopping at a rest area in Kentucky right past Louisville. We found a good spot, folded down the back seat of the hatchback and curled up in the back. We left the CD player playing, but little did we know that the stupid car also apparently had turned on its automatic headlights; they're dimmer than the regular headlights but still bright enough to kill the battery. Joe woke up about two and a half hours after we fell asleep because he heard the music stop playing-- do you know how hard it is to find someone to jump your car at 4am?? And Highway Patrol isn't even open until 8am. (And this was central time so to them it was only 3am-- that would've been 5 hours to wait for Highway Patrol!) Thankfully there was a guy in a mini van that was willing to jump our car. Lots of people passed us by even though we were sitting there with our hood open and the cables hooked up just looking for someone to give us two seconds of their time. ._.
That wasn't the worst of it though! Oh no, there is more... we kept driving through the rest of the morning and finally we were both just dragging soooo bad, we decided to drive through a Starbucks. (Remember the time I was high on the Java Chip frapp? Yeah, I was counting on that kind of buzz to get us home again.) We ordered, paid, and then had to wait a minute for our drinks. Joe put the car into park to wait. We got our drinks and Joe goes to shift it into drive aaaand... the thing slides, but the car won't actually shift out of park. WTF?? He tries again, no luck. He turns the car off and then on again, no luck. We try pushing but because it's in Park and we can't get it to Neutral, we can't get it out of the way. So here we are, blocking the Starbucks drive-thru window at 10am! AUGH! Joe called AAA, and the kids working the Starbucks window just kind of chuckled and said "Well, don't worry, we could use a little break anyway." So they closed the drive-thru as we continued to look around for what the problem was.
Joe popped off part of the console and we started from one end to try and find out what the problem was. Nothing wrong inside the console; the cables still seemed to be working on that end. We're looking and looking, and finally after about half an hour Joe was going to have me try shifting again to look under the hood by the engine to find the right cable, when he noticed... the little cap connecting the cable to the engine had simply popped off and was sitting on the little box NEXT to where it should have been sitting. O_o He popped the cap back on, we try it, and sure enough, it works!! Thankfully nothing major was wrong and we didn't even need AAA to come help us out. Joe called & cancelled the order for the guy to come out, and we were back on our way again.
We had been TRYING to get back in time to pick Reo up from the vet's, but we didn't even reach Atlanta until ~1pm, and we *know* it's at least a 6 hour drive from Atlanta (assuming no traffic/construction) so we decided not to even panic about getting home "in time" any more. We resigned ourselves to getting there whenever we got there. Good thing, too, because just after we made it through Atlanta we got hit by a really bad storm. It was pouring rain and lots of loud thunder/lightning. So we went and walked around a Wal-Mart for a while, then got back in the car and off we went.
We stopped @ "The Smokin' Pig" in Valdosta for some awesome BBQ (we had stopped there after FWA this year and loved it!) and their excellent peach and pecan cobbler.. yum! Just what we needed after a long day. (And I even have some BBQ leftovers for lunch today!)
We finally got in around 9:30 last night. Oy! What an adventure. So we slept pretty hard last night.
Otherwise our week was a good one. Sad, of course, that we had to go to Joe's grandpa's funeral, but it was good that so much of the family could be there. We also got to see a lot of Joe's mom's side of the family. Then we went on up to Michigan for a couple of days to see my mom, my sister and her kids, and my youngest sister was supposed to be there too but I think we saw her for all of three hours, and even then she was too busy being prissy to worry about her sister that she "came up from Illinois just to see." We had lots of fun with the nephews though, including getting to go with them to Chuck-E-Cheese's (I haven't been there in years!) and the zoo. Needless to say the whole week was PACKED with activity.
So now I have a week and a half to work before Ancient City Con arrives, and a week beyond that before Megaplex.
I think I'll go collapse for a bit, now, before getting to work. D: |
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| Comments: |
I am glad you found some light and that so many could be with you in such a sad circumstance.
Hopefully the car will be nicer next time. ~_~
ilu guys & am glad you made it back safe and sound <3
Wow, that was some hectic trip. Uh, also, I was going to send you some fundage because I know you asked for some, so I was going to ask if I could send some of my excess lindens your way, since well, I don't need them, and I know you can exchange them for $$$. I have no clue what the exchange rate is for them though, so I wasn't sure how much to send if I did send them.
Uh, anyways, glad you're back, and YAY! MEGAPLEX! WOO!
--Salen
Glad to hear that your engine issues was nothing more than a connector coming off. There's no worse time to have engine failure than when you're on the road somewhere. x.x
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/95848534/563012) | From:
2009-07-09 09:05 pm (UTC)
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Blocking a drive-thru window no less!! ;_;
Our guess was, this happened after we drove through a construction zone in the mountains where we were driving on some pretty heavy-duty rumble strips. It probably came loose then, and then shifting it into park just popped it all the way off. D:
I'm so glad you got to see your mom and all. :3 And I'm glad you two made it back saft and sound. -hugs- I can't wait to see you again soon!
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/69721422/563012) | From:
2009-07-11 02:59 pm (UTC)
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You guys want to come up for Ancient City? (Are you still working? haha) Let me know, of course you can crash at our place.
They are allowing us to start setting up as early as 6am (yikes!!) on Saturday and doors open to the public at 8. So we will have to get up EARLY but maybe they will let you guys come in & help us set up. (Especially if you help carry stuff, nudge-nudge-wink-wink!) ;)
I don't think we'd be able to make it because I *am* still working, however much I do not want to. >:C But thank GOD, this week is my last week because I simply REFUSE to work Sunday. (it's be worthless to work ONE day out of a week) But I get out of work at 2 on Saturday, maybe I can see about coming up there Saturday night and Sunday?
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2009-07-11 09:04 pm (UTC)
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Sure! Only if you want to. :P We will be in Jax until who-knows-when on Saturday.. they don't have their hours for anything posted on their web site. O_o I can text you on Saturday when we find out. IF we find out. Probably one of the most unorganized cons we've done. ;_; Sigh.. Oh well! I hope it's fun anyway. :P
I'll totally have to see. @___@ Between that weekend and a little after MP, it seems that I might be zipping around the state. Haha! X3 I'll send ya a text later on when I figure out what's going on! <3333
Glad to hear you and Joe are back home safe, despite the travel troubles. | |
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