I shouldn’t have asked

Posted on 05/26/2008 by RLW3

As I went to tell my wife the news, I discovered that the phone that I bought yesterday morning to replace my Cingular 8525 was dead! This cannot be happening!

I unhooked the car and drove into town. A young clerk at Alsup’s got the phone book out and let me call Jack’s Truck Repair and Towing on the store phone. They sent a very conscientious driver out who really took pains to prevent further damage to my car before towing it to his shop.

Once there, the mechanic recommended a hotel. When I went to check in, there was no one in the front office. They wouldn’t be back for four hours! It is, after all, Memorial Day…

I went to the second recommended place. Again, no one was in the front office. However, there was a sign taped to the door with two numbers to call “In Case of Emergency.” I think that this might qualify…

I found an outlet on the outside wall of the hotel and plugged the charger for the replacement cell phone in so that I could call the two numbers written on the front office door in order to rent a room. Then it occurred to me that I should call my wife first to inform her that I wouldn’t be home today…

or tomorrow.

In the middle of my story, the phone totally died! It said “No Battery”. I KNOW IT HAS NO BATTERY. IT’S PLUGGED INTO THE WALL! %$^#**#@!!!

What should I do now???

I crossed the street and called the first number with the restaurant’s phone. It rang twice and then went dead! I called back only to hear a busy signal! This pattern was repeated two more times.

Undaunted, I called the second number…BUSY!

At this point, the restaurant owner is scratching his head…

Maybe i shouldn’t stay here…

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Houston, we have a problem!

Posted on 05/26/2008 by RLW3

I left Albuquerque this morning and resumed the eastward trek. Nearly three hours later, I was 10 miles west of Tucumcari when the something felt strange with the T-Bird. I slowed down…

nothing…

then a strange pull.

I immediately pulled to the side of the road. I heard a loud thud and a sudden lurch.

As I pulled completely off the I-40, I saw my front left tire bouncing down the east I-40, roll across the 60 foot medium, across the west I-40 and up onto the hill! This is not good!

Amazingly, there were no cars near me so my car didn’t cause any further damage. Additionally, there were no cars traveling westbound on the I-40 so my overly exuberant tire didn’t cause any damage. These two facts became even more wonderful to me when I remembered that I had no insurance at the time of the incident!

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Funky Weather

Posted on 05/25/2008 by RLW3

I was sweating as I walked with a gas can on the CA/AZ border. Now, I am in Flagstaff and the locals say that it might snow!

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You’ve Got to be Kidding Me

Posted on 05/25/2008 by RLW3

Well, I slept well at the “Cars” gas station. I resumed my great escape from CA at 5:00.

Gas prices in Needles, CA are ridiculous! $4.39 per gallon! Exit 9 in AZ was only 21 miles away. My fuel gauge said that I had over 1/8 of a tank. Not a problem…

Well, the first 19.5 miles went great. The last 1 1/2 miles took over an hour! I RAN OUT OF GAS!

To make matters worse, it happened WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH MY WIFE! I had decided to be a good husband and let her know that I had made it out of CA without getting a ticket for driving an uninsured F150 and without getting my unregistered non operational T-Bird impounded!

Well, I don’t have much of an ego left anyway.

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I’m in a cartoon, er, a movie!

Posted on 05/25/2008 by RLW3

After driving for three hours, I had to find a place to rest in my truck. Just too tired! Can’t risk towing a car in this condition.

I pulled off of the I-40 in Newberry Springs, CA on “Historical Route 66”. I quickly stumbled upon an old, abandoned filling station that is right out of the animation movie “Cars”! One foot tall weeds are growing up through what once was the concrete driveway; the pumps have been removed; all of the glass windows are long gone with only the metal frame remaining. I hope that it is a good place to sleep.

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The Latest Adventure

Posted on 05/24/2008 by RLW3

Here is my solution to the problem described in the last post: I will tow my UNREGISTERED non-operational project car behind my UNINSURED (everyone is closed this weekend) 1979 F150! I hope this is the right decision?!?!

I have already received my first piece of good news…Southwest cancelled my flight and will give me one year to use the money for another ticket.

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The best laid plans of mice and men…

Posted on 05/24/2008 by RLW3

Well, my plan didn’t work. I have been here in Los Angeles for the entire week.

No one wanted to buy my old 1979 F-150.

The auto transport broker has been unable to find a truck to ship my project car.

And, to top it off, when I spoke to my friend who has been letting me keep the car in his driveway, he informed me that it had to be moved in two weeks!

I am to be  leaving LAX on a Southwest flight to Kansas City in 5 1/2 hours!

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Going Undercover

Posted on 05/23/2008 by RLW3

Not willingly. My beautiful AT&T 8525 just died. No, it’s not the battery. No, it’s not the charger. The phone is dead. This is the second replacment phone. I will call AT&T when I get back to Kansas.

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Blogging has changed me

Posted on 05/23/2008 by RLW3

I have wanted to write for years. I have owned this domain name for 2 1/2 years. I have only been writing for a few weeks and it has already changed me. How?

I used to think that I lived a pretty mundane, somewhat difficult and yet boring life. Whenever people would ask me about what was going on in my life, I grew so weary of repeating the same information month after month that I grew quite adept at redirecting the conversation to what was happening in their life. While that is a good skill to learn, I cannot claim a virtuous motive for learning it.

It also seems pretty ironic now that I have taken to telling the whole world every little detail…LOL!

But just recording these little amazing events has given me a very different perspective. My life is incredibly interesting. In the past, I just lumped the events of my life together into this big pile of difficult circumstances that probably arose because I am not the sharpest tool in the shed’, However, while I still think the latter is true, I feel very differently about life. I live a VERY interesting, full life! And I am grateful for it!

It is a blessing to live a long life. It is another blessing to live a full life!

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Back in the far recesses of my memory…

Posted on 05/23/2008 by RLW3

This morning, I did something that I haven’t done for over two decades…

I RAN 5 MILES!

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