2020, Day 7: Resilience

In case you don't know, mom and dad have a road trip curse. It has existed since long before I was born, and has persisted since long after I moved out of the house. Somehow, some way, there is always car trouble. Despite any preparations as preventative, there nearly always seems to be car trouble. This year, I hear, they prepared, dumped cash into car checkups and the like to make sure their relatively new and healthy vehicle was in shape to carry them cross-country and back. We were set!

But a curse is a curse. Part of me thinks mom needs to make a rabbit's foot ornament to dangle from her rear-view mirror, or nail a horseshoe above the driver's side door. Maybe that would ward off the engine poltergeists, or at least reflect some of the entropy and reduce the punishment to something minor, like a deflating tire or a cracked windshield.

“The Best Laid Plans…” Day 2. I must mention at the beginning that major setbacks are still attended by tender mercies.

We got out a little later than normal this morning, but were still ready to ride at 8:50. The terrain today was a lot of rolling hills: up and down, up and down, up and down. And I was going through my gear range, down and up, down and up, down and up. It was actually kind of fun: speeds as high as 30, and crawling up hills at 6 or 7. Nevertheless, we were moving along and making good time. When we got to Stanton, I had about 8-10 miles to go to finish the day’s ride and be one full day ahead of schedule. Mom said, “We’re actually going to make it!” So I took off down the road. After about ½ mile Mom called. She said the car wouldn’t start, the windows wouldn’t roll up, and a message on the dashboard said Check Stabilitrack. So I rode back up the hill to where she was. I started the car, but the engine light and battery light were on. I walked into the Family Dollar store and asked the clerk if there was a garage in town. She said she wasn’t from there and didn’t know. So I drove across the street to a gas station. No power steering, and the car would hardly make it across the street. The clerk at the station didn’t know of one either. So here we sat, 60 miles or so from our hotel in Grand Rapids, stuck. So much for “We’re going to make it.”

Call AAA. Simple, right? No. With Covid, they said they couldn’t carry people in the cab of the tow truck. And before someone would tow us, we had to verify that the shop we had the car towed to would actually accept it. So they gave me numbers for 3 repair shops in Grand Rapids. The first one said he had an engine on the shop floor and wouldn’t be able to get to me until Monday. The second one had better news, and may be able to get to it this afternoon or in the morning. The manager, Steve, seemed very nice on the phone. So we called AAA back. They found a tow truck that would allow us in the cab. The truck arrived within 30 minutes, which was kind of a surprise. The driver, Richard, was a young guy, and very nice. Once the car was loaded on the truck, it took about an hour and a half to get to the shop. During that time we had a real nice conversation with him. When we dropped the car off at the repair shop, they got it right in for a diagnostic. Meanwhile, we had a fun conversation with Steve about riding cross country and really enjoying the scenery here in Michigan. Diagnosis: alternator dead, $650.00. They said they could get it done by around 10:00 tomorrow morning. While we were figuring out how to get a rental car to get us to the hotel, Steve said, “I’ll do you one better. We have a loaner car.” So we are driving a little Ford Fusion for the evening. The front passenger door won’t open, so Mom gets to ride in the back while I chauffeur her around.

Tender mercies: 1. the car died in town, not out on the road somewhere. 2. we found a repair shop that could do the job quickly. 3. despite having to jump through a few hoops, we were able to get to our hotel for the evening. 4. We were together, so I didn’t have to backtrack several miles. 5. We had AAA. 6. There was a tow truck in the area, so we were able to get to the shop on time. 7. The truck had an extended cab so we could get a ride. 8. The shop had a loaner car. 9. They are storing my bike overnight in their shop. 10. It was a fairly easy repair (we hope). 11. Everyone we worked with was really nice.

And I still made 45 miles today, in about 3:50, before the breakdown. Even though we will get a late start tomorrow, the weather forecast looks fairly decent, so, hopefully, I can still get a good ride in.

And if it weren’t for the unexpected adventures, what would I have to write about???