These are random musings of my life journey, the people, animals, places, and events which have woven, and continue to weave, a tapestry that is me. We all know there is no real destination, only the ongoing experiences which blend together, creating the trail. Each step gives a glimpse of what is to come, without allowing me to see the end result. It is exciting. I have a home base that is mine, that gives me a place to rest. This is it. This is where my heart is, no matter where I journey...................

Monday, August 10, 2009

Frustrating and Fun Weekend

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My weekend was interesting. Odd. Challenging. Aggravating. Fun. Boring. Etc.

Starting with Thursday night. I had gone into town to the library and to grab a couple things at the grocery store. On a lark I whipped into the thrift shop where I ran into Linda. She said she was headed to set up for an event. And she said she forgot to tell me about it, so to go home, get "prettied up," and meet her at the local fine arts theater for a preview of the art tour over the weekend. I debated a moment, and she said the words, "food," "wine," and "friends," and I said OK!

I enjoyed the gathering, visited with several friends, had some yummy noshes, and looked over the art on display. I didn't have wine. I was too hungry and didn't want the drive home to end badly. It was a fun couple hours.

Friday afternoon, I started to run a short errand. I got in the truck and drove about a block, hearing an odd noise. Then it dawned on me that it sounded like a flat tire. grrrrrr. OK, out of the car and sure enough, I had a tire going flat. It was almost flat, but not quite. I turned around and came home. I decided to wait on the errand till Saturday. I plugged the tire inflater (I suppose it is actually called a compressor) into the cigarette lighter and pumped it up.

My plan was to get up Saturday morning and go to Big O and repair/replace it, then run my errand and move on to my next thing, visiting some friends on the art tour.

Saturday morning, I got up to find the tire completely deflated. I plugged the pump in again, took a shower and got dressed. I was thinking while doing this that I might have to "hop" into town, stopping at a gas station or two to pump up the tire as I went. The tire was inflated by now, so I unplugged the pump, returned to the house to have a bit of breakfast. About twenty minutes later, I grabbed my things and started out the door .... to find the tire completely deflated again. OK, obviously I was not wise to risk driving into Big O. It is about a 25-30 minute drive, and the first gas station is across the mountain, 12 miles or so, and it was possible (likely?) I wouldn't make it there. There aren't a lot of places to pull off the road to inflate, if I needed to do that, so ....

I considered changing the tire, but I can't change the tire myself. The one thing I didn't think of when I bought my truck is the tires. #1 - they are huge, #2 - they are very heavy, #3 - the spare is a full sized tire under the truck and not all that easy to access and release. I couldn't even put the spare on and take off. Even if I managed to get it changed, I couldn't have lifted the tire into the bed of the truck.

I called AAA. I didn't see that I had a choice now. I love AAA. They have rescued me many times, tires, keys locked in in the car, battery run down. As I gave them information, when we got to the address, she asked for a cross street. I live on a corner, so I gave the other street name, then told her to pass along to the driver that unless he actually knew where it was, to call me before coming out. My house is actually easy to find, BUT .... you can't googlemap or mapquest or GPS it. It is not to be found. The streets have been renamed, but until the renaming of the whole county is completed, the official changes will not be sent to those map sources. With directions, it is pretty easy to find my place; without it, it's a mess.

I was notified that the truck wouldn't be out for almost 1.5 hour. OK. It was Saturday. It was about 9:00, and that would still allow me to get to Big O before they close at noon. So I kicked back and enjoyed another cup of coffee while I waited. It was approaching 11:00, and I hadn't heard, so I was hoping that the driver knew where he was going. About 11:10 I got a call for the tow service office, saying that he had left his previous stop and was in Nogal, but couldn't find the address. Duh! I live 5 miles out of the village, and he had to drive by my area to get to Nogal! I gave directions, then asked if AAA had not told them to have him call me. A conversation ensued during which she didn't exactly say they did or didn't pass that info along. I expressed my irritation over the delay, and then she said .... "Well, we are the only service available on the weekend."

[dramatic pause]

And I replied, "So what you're saying is that you have me and AAA over the barrel, so we just have to accept this kind of service?" She sputtered, "I didn't say that at all." I said no, she didn't have to say it, it was implied, thanked her and hung up.

Five minutes later I got a call from the tow truck driver and I repeated the directions to him. He was here in about 10 minutes, and told me that he was looking for the "cross street" on the highway. TWO miles from me! I asked if he was told to call me for directions, and he said no. By the time he changed the tire, it was too late to get to Big O. Essentially, I have a good spare on the ground, so it isn't a problem, but the principle of it irks me.

I've lodged a complaint with AAA. If it was their error, I'll take it up with them. If it was the tow service, I will expect AAA to correct the situation. Either way, it is extremely irritating to have this happen. They checked with me four or five times during this fiasco, and my experience with them is always good. I feel it was a problem with the tow service, because of their reputation and my previous experience with them.

ANYway .... I made the afternoon art tour and had a wonderful time. I even had time to run the errand and get home at a decent hour. After all that, I was content to just stay home for the rest of the weekend!
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7 comments:

  1. wow I would be miffed with that towing service also. I think I am going with triple A also I am not sure that I could change a tire.

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  2. I've had AAA for about 5 years, and I love the security. I've used the services about once a year, and it is SO worth it.

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  3. How frustrating (with that Tow company).

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  4. I am sorry that you had to deal with so many problems on Saturday. But I am glad that you were able to make it to Big O's yesterday and get it fixed. I am sure by the time you read this you will be back from getting your two new tires and you won't need to worry about tires for a couple of years.

    I used to have AAA and I have never had any problems with them or the companies they send out.

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  5. Daisy, yeah, absolutely. I hate the attitude of "the only game in town."

    Caroline, it turned out that the tire couldn't be repaired and they didn't have a replacement in stock, but I'll drive in this afternoon and get the new ones put on. All is good! Yep, I'm set for a while again.

    I figure my once a year emergency (or lack of care!) pays for the annual fee. It's worth it.

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  6. I thought GPS worked everywhere. But I've never seen it work myself. Maybe you should buy a flare gun just in case this happens again. Then you could inform the driver to watch for the flares in the sky.

    We have AAA but I honestly can't remember the last time we used it. They take so long to get here too and we have a cross street just down the block.

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  7. Dave, GPS does work anywhere, BUT .... it gets its information from maps, similar to mapquest, gogglemaps, etc. If you enter my address, it won't show up because the county isn't finished renaming and re numbering. Once that is done, they will send it in and all those map places can update and I will be on the map. Lots of times, if you have a rural address, it isn't included in the services. 3 years ago this property had a Rural Route address, 4 years ago it was renamed to a Street Address, but it duplicated another in the county, so about 3 years ago it was renamed to my current address. I don't know how long it will take to get everything current. This is New Mexico; we're not in a hurry for much. Well, except the arrival of the tow truck!!

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If you have something to say about it, just stick out your thumb, and I'll slow down so you can hop aboard! But hang on, 'cause I'm movin' on down the road!!! No time to waste!!!