The Rest of the Road Trip

The rest of the trip was moms, moms, moms!  I'm on an email list with moms of kids who were due in March of 1996.  We've been together close to 15 years now.  Saturday, we had lunch with a North Carolina mom, then stayed over with another.  Sunday was lunch with 2 North Carolina moms, then staying over with a Virginia mom.  Monday we were going to see the Air and Space museum in DC, but PetSmart couldn't board Dumble without a kennel cough vaccination, which he's never had.  So we had lunch in a restaurant with outdoor seating, then puttered around a bit before visiting a mom in Maryland for dinner, before heading over to another mom's for the night.  After a wonderful sticky bun breakfast, we headed to northwestern New Jersey for lunch with another mom before heading home.  It was wonderful to sleep in my very own bed last night, next to my very own husband.  My entire family - including Alex - was sleeping under the very same roof last night.  I am a very contented woman.

It's a Crazy Town Full of Neon Dreams

Yesterday was all driving.  From Lawrence, Kansas to Madisonville, KY (about 2 hours outside of Nashville.)  Today was a lot more fun.  We drove into Nashville and spent the day at the Country Music Hall of Fame, including a tour of the famous RCA Studio B where Elvis recorded for many years.  Dumble hung out in his backpack while we enjoyed the museum.  Then another 2 hours to Crossville, TN for the night.

Whoo Hoo!

This morning, we were up fairly early to hit the car audio place before it opened - I wanted to be first in line.  Less than 2 hours later, we left with functionign XM in the new car.  They even had a gizmo to connect the XM to the antenna rather than bradcasting an FM signal.  The sound is fabulous and less likely to get stepped on by local FM stations (nothing at all interfered today).  Then we stopped at Target for snacks and beverages and got some ice for the cooler.

Back to the dealer to pick up the plates from the old car - I had forgotten that we probably have to turn them back in in CT in order to get the car off the books.  On the way out of town, we got drive-through lunch.  It's now 1AM on Wednesday.  I think our GPS sent us a round-about route that added over an hour to our trip, but we're here.


Tomorrow, the plan is to visit the Boot Hill Museum and then "get outta Dodge" and head to a friend's in Lawrence.

Quietly Celebrating

I don't want to get too excited because we could still run into trouble tomorrow.

Today we picked up my new car.  It's a 2001 Toyota Sienna (see it here), and we got a really good deal on it.  Dan and I got up relatively early, ate breakfast at IHOP (Dan is loving the Minion-ade) and went to the dealer.  We finished asked them to give the car the once-over, checking fluids and belts and such to make sure it was OK for the drive to CT (we bought it wholesale, so that stuff hadn't been done yet.)  While they worked on it, Dan and I went to the bank to get a cashier's check for the balance.  After the car was officially mine, Dan got to bang a huge Chinese gong and everyone applauded.

Next up was to take the car to a car audio place to have the XM installed.  (I will not under any circumstances drove cross-country without my XM (and AC, but that's another story).  The car would not have been ready until 7, and I had other things to do, so I plan to show up first thing tomorrow morning and hopefully be out of there fairly early.  We have no stops to make, so as long as we make Dodge City by bedtime, I'll be happy; it could take until 2 and we'd still be OK.

Next up was the U-Haul place.  I need a trailer because the Sienna's interior volume is less than that of the Previa.  They had the trailer I'd reserved, but didn't have the right size thingy that holds the ball that goes into the square part of the hitch on the car.  Dan and I went across town to pick up the thingy and the ball.  We hit Sonic afterwards, then headed back to U-Haul.  The young man went to hitch up the trailer and found that there was no electrical hook up for the lights on the trailer, and it's illegal to tow a trailer without it.  The good news, he was able to install that and had the parts.  The other gentleman told me I was lucky the younger guy was there, because we wouldn't have been able to get it done at any of the U-Haul places (I guess the kid was the only one in the whole city working today that could do it?)

Dan and I climbed up on a pile of boxes to wait, me knitting and he reading his summer reading book, to wait.  Less than an hour later we were on our way back to the dealership with the trailer in tow.  My old car was in a service bay since it was incapable of being moved, and they drove my new car and trailer into the bay area so Dan and I could transfer my belongings.

We got most everything into the trailer, leaving the car for our day-to-day luggage, and double and triple checked to old car to make sure we had everything.  Even so, I almost left my garage door opener on the visor.  We're both hot and sticky, but it's done!  Dan cleaned up a bit and is going to jump in the pool for a bit.  I plan to shower and change into my jammies after his swim.  The audio place opens at 9, so we're going to leave here no later than 8.  I plan to be first on line.

Twisty

I might be getting a new (to me) car instead.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

The service managers at the two dealerships worked it out, and agree that the AC compressor seizing up is what killed the drive shaft, and that the compressor going was just bad luck. I told the guy here to order the drive shaft and do the repairs, which I'm on my own in paying for.  I wonder if I can get the CA guy to pay for my hotel for dicking around for so long...

The drive shaft won't be here til Tuesday so maybe we can be on the road again by Wednesday?  We've pretty much exhausted the entertainment possibilities of Albuquerque.  A balloon ride is too expensive, it's too hot to go to a ball game.  We'll hit the natural history and science museum at least.


In the meantime, Daniel is excellent company and it's nice to spend great gobs of time with him after being separated so long while I was in CA.  Alex has moved home, and I'm really looking forward to spending time with him too.

Wrong Turn at Albuquerque

I've been waiting for the CA guy to get back to the NM guy, and I finally spoke to the CA gut this afternoon and left a message for the NM guy and he hasn't gotten back to me.  CA guy's story is that he and NM guy agree that it was the death of the compressor that caused the drive shaft to fail, not the nuts being british measurements instead of metric.  The death of the compressor had nothing to do with the two kinds of refrigerant (and my BIL the mechanic agrees).  I want to hear from the NM guy that it's not the CA guys fault and I need to tell him to go ahead and order the drive shaft.  Since that will take at least overnight, I don't see us leaving before Monday. 

We got a rental from the NM dealer and have been getting out of the hotel at least.  We went to the top of Sandia Peak yesterday, and had lunch up there.  After wards we drove along route 66, then we saw the Sorcerer's Apprentice (loved it!) and we're going to see the Karate Kid later.  We blowled two rounds earlier today (and we both did pretty badly, me worse than Dan).  Tomorrow we are signed up for a segway tour of the older part of Albuquerque.  The hotel is nice and the room comfortable.  So things could be worse.

It Gets Better

They think the compressor blew because there were two types of refrigerant in it.  Since I had the system upgraded from freon in CT before I left for CA, and had it serviced in CA before I left (the replaced some o-rings and topped off the refrigerant) that means the 2nd type was added by the guys in CA.

There has been a rattling noise from the bushings in (on? around?) the drive shaft for a long time, but when I had it looked at I was told it was just cosmetic and not causing any problems with the car.  When I had the car checked in CA, they told me that it had passed that point and was now causing wear.  They found me a reconditioned drive shaft for about a third the cost of a new one, and I had them replace it. 

The guy taking care of me here in NM called this morning.  The drive shaft tore itself apart (could that have been the thump I heard?) because it was attached with american size bolts and not metric.  A new one can't be here until tomorrow.


I called the guy who handled my car in CA and he's going to get back to me after he talks to his manager.

Still Waiting

They hope to have the car fixed by tomorrow afternoon.  It needs a new compressor and they can't check the rest of the electrical system until they get that in.  I had a good long nap this afternoon, but I'm ready for bed now.

Is It Hot Out Here, Or Is It Just Me?

On Friday, Dan and I packed up the car, with a break to run out to buy one of these, and a mat that you fill with water for your dog to lay on that helps keep him cool.  I was worried about driving in AZ and keeping the dog cool (and I was right to as you will see).  We also hit the movie theater to see a matinee of Despicable Me and for Dan to use the rest of his tokens for the arcade.  Despicable Me was fantastic and I heartily recommend it to anyone.

By the time we finished packing the car up it was 11:30.  We had a lot of trouble getting this attached to the car, so I stopped by the Toyota dealer to ask them to take a look at the straps and make sure they were tight enough.  After that we filled up the car and bought ice for the cooler and headed out of town. 

A couple of hours into the trip, though, things started to go wrong.  First the AC started blowing hot, then it would blow cool for a bit, then hot again.  Then the fan stopped working.  We saw a shopping center from the highway that had a PetSmart and a WalMart, so we got off the highway hoping to get some ice and have someone look at the fuses.  I dropped Dan and the dog at the pet store to take advantage of their AC.

Miles away, at the other end of the shopping center, the guy at WalMart's tire and lube center couldn't help me with fuses, but let me know of a couple of options nearby, I got a bags of ice however, and headed back across the center to Auto Zone.  A very nice man there figured out where my fuses were and sure enough, the one for the AC was blown.  He sold me a couple of fuses and popped one in and I went back to get Dan and the dog.  I blew and replaced the fuse again - at some point in this saga, and having gone through nearly a half dozen fuses, I finally realized I could have the AC button pushed in, or the fan on, but not both at the same time.  Dan dumped the ice in the cooler, and we used the water spritzer-fan thingy he got at Universal to keep ourselves and the dog cool (coolish? warmish? not hottish?).  He had a cut-down paper cup in the cup holder in front of him and he was drinking regularly, and every time he started to pant, Dan would spritz him with water.  We arrived at my friend Betsey's house outside Phoenix, hot, drained, wrung out and tired, but alive.

Bets and I have been members of a mom's email list since our kids were babies (she since before her kid was born), we've never met in person before, but we did not feel like strangers, but good friends.  Dan was nervous about spending time with a family he didn't know, but the 5 of them were soon getting along famously.  We lazed about with them on Sunday morning until noon, and Dan didn't want to leave, but we had to reach Albuquerque at a reasonable time to get a good night's sleep.  Plus Sunday was 7/11 and we wanted to find a 7-11 in Albuquerque for free slushies (they give them away every year and it's a thing with us.)   Well, people make plans and fate laughs its tush off, right?

I had hoped that having a chance to cool off (HAH - it was over a hundred when we left, so the car was probably not any cooler than it had been when we turned it off) would give us back the AC.  No dice, and I blew the second (and final) fuse I had picked up at Auto Zone.  As we buzzed along the highway, windows down, using the spritzer (Dan filled it with ice water before we left, smart fellow), we passed a Toyota dealer.  We pulled off the next exit, used the GPS to find our way back to the dealer.  And realized it was Sunday.

I did find a gas station with ice and fuses and filled up the car.  We put most of one bag of ice in the cooler, with the last couple of handfuls of ice left in the bag, which we put next to the dog.  Dan kept an eye on him, dropping the occasional ice cube in his water.  He seemed comfortable enough - no panting.  Dan kept the second bag of ice, sometimes on his lap, sometimes beside him, passing it to me for the occasional hug.  He gave me cubes to suck on too, and kept adding cubes to the spritzer and passing it to me when I needed it.  We popped in a fuse and ran the fan with no AC and pretended that the KoolerAire was helping.

Around three we saw that there were clouds ahead and areas that were in the shade of those clouds.  We were so glad to see that we would be in the shade of those clouds soon and it did get a little cooler.  We stopped at a McDonalds, so everyone could potty.  I snuck Dumble in and stood by the door with him, but he was shivering in the AC from being damp from the condensation from his ice bag.  McD's sold us lunch and more ice, and I ended up wearing the last of Daniel's first bag of ice on my head (so hot at this point that I cared not how I looked).  Icy water leaked from the bag onto my neck and back - heaven!  As we drove higher, headed towards New Mexico, it got cooler, and we passed through some showers even. 

Around 7 or 8, we commenced the great bathroom search, as three consecutive exits had only establishments that were closed or out of business.  We finally hit a dingy truckstop and grabbed some snacks, as the dubious restaurant had already closed.  We continued on in the dark.

There was a loud thunk and the battery light on the dash went on.  I don't think I hit anything - there was no bump.  I called Blair, it was after 11 his time, and he was starting a new job the next day, but I didn't know what else to do.  Dan searched through the car's manual - but the description of what causes that light was no help.  Was it a pull over right this minute and get it looked at light, or a finish driving to our destination and get it looked at in the morning light?

Blair was googling like crazy and found a question on line asking about the light in a 1991 Previa (mine is a 93) - I was amazed at his search engine prowess!  Blair the might internet hunter.  From the answer, we decided that as long as I didn't turn the car off, I was probably OK to continue towards Albuquerque.  I saw "towards" rather than "to" because we were not fortunate enough to get there under our own power.  Blair also looked up the addresses and opening times of the two Toyota dealers in ABQ, and my plan was to take the car there first thing in the morning.

We'd slowed down considerably while talking to Blair, and instead of arriving in Albuquerque before midnight as we'd been on track to, it was now nearly 11 and ABQ was about an hour away.  I saw that there was a McDonalds at the next exit, and decided that we'd be OK to go through the drive through.  As we turned at the bottom of the ramp, I realized I had no power steering.  Who knows when it went though, since I'd been driving arrow straight roads at highway speeds for the last several hours.  But as we turned on to the ramp to get back on the highway, the ABS light came on.  Further down the ramp, I realized the headlights were out, and that the car wasn't responding to the gas pedal.  I continued off the ramp on to the shoulder and puttered along there for a bit before drifting to a stop.

It was now a bit after 11 mountain time.  There was nothing Blair could do, so I didn't call him.  AAA promised a tow truck by 20 after 12.  By shutting off everything in the car, we got the blinkers to work.  About 45 minutes later, they were quite dim, and I lit my only flare (good for about 15 minutes of light.)  When that died, I put the blinkers on again, but they didn't last long.  Another call to AAA, to find that they had gotten my phone number wrong and the tow driver was trying to get a hold of us.  I explained my worry about being invisible, and the operator offered to call the local cops to come, but as we were talking about it the tow truck driver arrived.  He'd been told to meet us behind the McDonalds, not on the highway beyond it.  He got the car loaded on to the flatbed and we started off.

A one hour plus drive to the dealership later, followed by a comedy of errors involving the car locking itself, or maybe the tow truck driver hit the lock button on my key fob (but thank goodness the side door needs to be locked manually sometimes), us unloading our overnight bags and puppy necessities so Daniel could scramble up front to unlock the doors and retrieve the keys, and the trailer hitch hanging up on the pavement with the car half off the flatbed (first he tried to slide the flatbed out from under my car, then he pulled it back up on the bed and moved to a part of the parking lot with a bit of a slope, there with much manhandling he managed to unload the car.)  I called a taxi when we arrived, so the cab driver saw part of this floor show.  By the time Daniel and I got to our hotel, checked in and got into bed it was 3:30.  I left a wake up call for 5:30 so I'd have the time to call for another cab, take a shower and get to the dealer a half hour before they opened at 7, so I'd be early in their queue.

I left Daniel and Dumbledore sleeping and went to the dealer.  I'd told him the night before what my plan was and told him if he woke up before I got back to walk the dog and eat free breakfast.  I got to the dealership, checked in and explained the history, then walked across the street to BK for breakfast.  Back to the dealer where GMA was playing in the waiting room.  I'm glad they caught that barefoot bandit kid before he managed to get himself killed, and wondered how on earth he became a folk hero?  Because he's white and cute?  He's an amoral thief for heaven's sake.  I actually exclaimed out loud when I heard that Switzerland won't extradite a man who drugged, raped and sodomized a child (someone younger than my Daniel is now).  WTF?  White and cute (talented?) again?  And speaking of white, cute and talented - how big a loser is Mel Gibson?

But I digress.  The AC compressor is gone.  There's a mixture of two refrigerants in my AC system.  (I got my AC upgraded from freon before I left CT, and serviced in CA, could the CA guys have used a different one from the CT guys?  Did that cause my problems with the AC?)  They need to get a part (parts?) which will be here around 2.  They hope to get me fixed today.  I extended my hotel reservation (which reminds me, I need to move tonight's reservation in Dodge City, KS to tomorrow night, and I need to revise the rest of my itinerary).  The dealership gave me a ride back to the hotel, where dog and boy still sleep (at quarter to 10), and they'll fetch me back later.

I think I'll take a nap now.

Dan and Ellen in California

Sunday night we saw Toy Story 3 and really enjoyed it.  It was sweet and funny and exciting.  Last night we saw the Last Airbender, we used to watch the cartoon series together and though the movie started out slowly (there was a lot of set-up to get through) by the end it was quite good.  I hope they manage to make the whole series. 

Today we are driving up to meet Blair’s aunt for lunch.  After that, mini golf at a place near here that looks way fun.  My van is in for pre-cross-country-trip servicing and while they have it, they lent me a Prius.  Dan is thrilled.  I had trouble figuring out how to disengage the parking brake.

Tonight, we are probably going back to the movies because Dan has a pocketful of tokens for the arcade at the theater.

the good news is I got to california ...

In the past, I've been very happy with Jet Blue, but I was trapped in flight cancellation hell for 47 hours.

It was supposed to be a simple 6 hour flight direct from JFK to Long Beach, CA.  Dumbledore and I have done it a half dozen times.  Leave the house in CT at 2pm, get to JFK around 4-ish, board the 6pm flight and arrive in CA around 9, up the next morning to go to work.  It's been very convenient for my purposes, and has worked well.


Until Sunday night.  We arrived at JFK a bit after 4 despite heavier traffic than usual, Blair driving, Daniel along for company.  (There's another story in how long it took them to get back to CT, but that's for another time).  I stop at a monitor and receive a nasty surprise - my flight was canceled.  We got on the check in line which is longer than usual with people who would normally have been in the bag drop line.

At the end of my wait, I am helped by a lovely young man (who will turn out to not have been so lovely after all, as we shall soon see), who put me on standby for the 8am direct flight to Long Beach, and booked me on the 3pm flight which stops in Salt Lake City.  We inquire about a hotel voucher - the passenger bill of rights, that Jet Blue is a signatory to, states that if the cancellation is their fault (so weather doesn't count, and we were told it was a maintenance issue) and they give less than 4 hours' notice (and the email I have was sent after 4pm, so less than 2 hours' notice), they have to put passengers up in a hotel.  Lovely young man says we need to speak with a supervisor, and he has sent for one.  We stand aside with a woman and her daughter who would also like a voucher.

This is when it starts to get ugly.  When the supervisor arrives, he first tells us there are no rooms.  No rooms? are the hotels full?, my new friend asks.  No, he clarifies, there are no vouchers.  You've run out?  No, he reluctantly says, there won't be any.  Thus follows a long heated discussion that touches on the length of time it can take some text messages to be delivered (3 hours?), the passengers' bill of rights and Jet Blue's participation therein, and a spurious claim that the flight was canceled at 1pm rather than 4 (I hadn't yet checked my email at that point but this guy was speaking out of his ... rear.  Later we overheard him telling other passengers that the cancellation was weather related, I'm assuming that he was trying to avoid other heated lengthy discussions) and the rather unbelievable claim that he was the highest ranking employee in the entire terminal and yet didn't have the authority to issue vouchers.

Finally, we decamped, after my new friend and I exchanged phone numbers.   Blair, Daniel, Dumbledore and I went downstairs to hunt down a hotel room for me, given that I would have to get back to the airport early, and that Blair had to work in the morning and wouldn't be able to drive me in.  I found a hotel that would take Dumbledore and Blair and Dan decided to accompany me on the train to where I could get a shuttle to the hotel, for which I was very grateful (especially after I found out how late they got home that night.)

At this point I was so tired and hot that I didn't care that the motel was a dump, warm and humid inside (although the AC worked fine once it was turned on), with a room that smelled vaguely of the minty smell of toilet cleaner, and free wireless internet that was only available in the minuscule, warm, humid lobby.  There was no room service or even restaurant, just takeout menus.  While attempting to get some work done (I'm paid hourly as a contractor and if I don't work, I don't get paid, and with my contract ending Wednesday, I need all the hours I can put in) in the lobby, with Dumbledore tethered to my chair, I ordered Dominos, including plain chicken for Dumble.  We took the food back to the room, and I peeled and pulled apart the chicken for him.  I should have rinsed off the fat too, I realized later; it was very greasy, but thankfully he has suffered no ill effects.

We slept very poorly.  Dumble kept getting enraged by the dog in the mirror wall across from the bed, and would not be reassured by being brought over to meet the stranger close up.  I tossed and turned with the uncomfortable bed, mediocre pillows and loud, unfamiliar AC- not to mention traffic sounds, and noises from other patrons.  We got up at 4:45 to make a 5:30 shuttle back to the airport.


I very nearly made it on to the 8am flight, but there were only middle seats available, and she ran out of time to get someone to switch (dog carriers won't fit under the middle seats) when she started receiving conflicting orders to hold the plane for some 9 people who still hadn't boarded and to lock  up and get on the plane so it could take off.  She was running down the jetway last I saw her.

I got a boarding pass for the flight I was confirmed on, a flight taking off around 3, with a stop in Salt Lake City.  With hours to kill, I set up at one of the workstations, which have the most uncomfortable seats I've encountered in a long time.  For one thing stools are problematic for short people, my feet don't rest comfortably where normal folks would - they dangle.  For another, the seats themselves were backless and shaped like a wooden version of a tractor seat.  A couple of hours of that was more than I could take, but there was nowhere comfortable to plug in the laptop.  I had lunch and spent an hour getting a seated chair massage and a foot massage, hoping to make up for the lack of sleep, avoid getting the heebie-jeebies in my legs during the flight and to un-ache muscles punished by puppy backpacks, and lifting and hauling my carry on (which contains two laptops and other essentials, but no dog kibble, a situation I will rectify the next time I fly with Dumbledore.)

I boarded the plane and settle Dumble underneath.  I was in the aisle seat and soon a young couple came up to my row.  She too had a boarding pass for seat 6C, but there was no one currently in the window seat, so they settled in to see what would happen.  But shortly thereafter a young man showed up with a ticket for the window seat.  The girl volunteered to be reseated in case there were only middle seats.  In the midst of everything I was informed that mine was the bogus boarding pass, but they found space for the girl, so I stayed on the plane.

When it landed in Salt Lake, passengers continuing to Long Beach were asked to deplane (for cleanup I think), but we were told we could leave our carry-ons.  I asked a flight attendant about where I was supposed to sit for the Long Beach Leg, given that the young couple was only ticketed through Salt Lake, so there was probably someone ticket for my seat to Long Beach.  She advised me to talk to them when they got set up at the gate.

It turned out that I was not even on the manifest for the Long Beach leg, and probably shouldn't have even been on the flight to begin with, that the flight was full and they would get me on it if there were any no shows, and that there were no more flights to CA that night.  About then I realized that the ticket agent in New York had not been so lovely after all.  While I waited, a fellow passenger bought Dumbledore a bottled water and we cut up a plastic cup so he could have a drink.  He was whining to go potty, but I wouldn't have been able to get back thorough security without a boarding pass.  I found some newspaper in the trash and encouraged him to use it, but he was unimpressed.

They were unable to get me on the flight and unable to retrieve my suitcase, which I hoped would be waiting for me when I eventually got to Long Beach.  This time though, the supervisor happily got me situated with a hotel, making the reservation himself, and making sure they were okay with the dog, and getting them to come pick me up in their shuttle.  While he was setting this up, told me we could finish up at the check in desk so I could take Dumble outside.  He told me where to meet him and I headed for the the outside.

I made a mad dash through an airport shop looking for something to wear, not knowing what would be available outside of security or at the hotel, and took Dumble outside.  He peed for EVER.  Every time I thought he surely had to be finished, he kept going.  Poor baby!  He'd been in the crate for 17 hours without complaint.  I'm amazed at what an even-tempered, well behaved guy he is.

The rest of the story goes much smoother.  The hotel (a Comfort Inn) was nice - clean, up to date, no funny smells, comfy bed and pillows, no dogs in mirror walls, internet in the room, fee breakfast, room service (burger for me and a plain chicken breast for Dumble.)  The front desk clerk even had a little box of laundry soap for me.  I got back to the airport in plenty of time, made my flight no problem, my suitcase was waiting for me, my aunt picked me up and I was at the office by 1pm.

I learned some valuable lessons, like always travel with kibble and clean underwear in your carry on.  But some of my fellow passengers from Sunday evening's original flight may not have fared even so well as I did.  The only other Long Beach flight on Monday besides the 8 am that I didn't get on, and the 3 o'clock I did get on, was the 6 o'clock flight that night, and guess what?  They canceled it.