NoelHeikkinen.com

Trip Woes

Jul 15, 2004 Uncategorized | Print This Post

{ MOOD: Tired, Very Tired…Oh, and Hungry | NOISE: Almost None, Finally }

How to even begin explaining our trip to Myrtle…I guess I’ll just dive right in…

Before we leave, Grace says, “If the van gives us any trouble you are buying me a new one.”

We hit the road late because, well, we always hit the road late. That put us a few hours behind schedule. That would normally not be an issue, but this time we reserved (and pre-paid) for rooms on Travelocity. So, we have a schedule to keep.

While driving through Ypsilanti, we have a tire blow out. Not just any tire, but the one we replaced after in blew out on our last trip to a conference in February. (See this video for a refresher.) I discover when trying to take off the bad tire that a) I do not have the right size jack (I bought a new one after the last one broke in Feb) and b) I don’t have the right tool to get the spare off the van. Luckily, Aaron and Eric were 15 minutes behind us with another Ford van that happened to have the same tool. Nice.

So, I call Discount Tire to see if they have one. The gentlemen gives me directions to their store. 20 minutes later, I call him back and he gives me the same wrong directions. So I call another Discount Tire and ask them for directions and they give me the right ones. I get to Discount Tire and they don’t have the right tire. They call around and noone does. So they give me the wrong tire and leave my spare on the car. They bag up the tire and put it in the van (just in case) and tell me to swap it out for the right one when I get home. Groovy. 3 hours wasted, but we are back on the road and flyin’.

We are about 15 minutes North of Charleston when Grace announces, “Something’s wrong with the van.” She was right. The tensioner (that holds on the serpentine belt) has disintegrated. Now we are dead. Luckily, our personal guardian angel arrived in a ‘66 Corvette convertable. His name was Larry. Weird name for an angel, but I digress.

Larry the Angel says to come with him. I do. This seems like a scene from “Deliverance,” driving through the back roads with Larry the Angel in West Virginia. We come to his house and he presents me with his conversion van which he is going to loan us. In fact we “can take it to Myrtle Beach for all I care.” Meanwhile, we call for a tow and at midnight, the towtruck arrives. The kids think this is fun, my wife is enjoying her favorite new phrase (”I told you so.”) and I am watching my van get towed….again.

We spend the night in a hotel and get up the next morning to find it is not a big deal to fix. 12:30pm, we return Larry the Angel’s van. He reminds us that we “can take it to Myrtle Beach for all I care.” No, thanks, we gotta go.

Late in the evening, we arrive in Myrtle to discover the condos goofed up and they have not left us a key to our condo. We call the 24-hour line and they hook us up with a temporary room for the night.

So much for arriving early and settling in.

This morning, we got our new room and guess what? The van is not working. Apparently, our air conditioner (which is brand new) is mad at the van and when we turn it on, it turns the van off. Then, at lights and stop signs it dies again. Lovely.

Back to the mechanics tomorrow.

Needless to say, Grace still wants a new van.