HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!!!
The last Pat & Sondee Adventures of 2014 were very eventful!!
First of all, Pat and I, had 2 FULL weeks off together! Pat had vacation he HAD to take and I get 2 weeks Winter Break because I work for the school district! WOOHOO!!!! We both decided that our Christmas Presents to each other was the fact we have 2 weeks together, IPhone 6's and baking hardware. We played around with the idea of Costa Rica, Orlando, Palm Springs, and some other places. But, since Pat's work wasn't sure if he was going to be able to take the time off, we couldn't make plans in advance. We decided to stay put and enjoy San Diego. In hindsight and with this cold front, Costa Rica sounds like a better plan.
My last day of work was the Friday before Christmas and Pat's was the Thursday. We went to dinner, as usual. During dinner we discussed what our plan was going to be. Nolan, my son, needed my mom's couch, which we were storing for her in our back room. It's a big beautiful grey leather couch. So we made a plan to borrow a family members truck, load the couch and drive to Las Vegas, drop off the couch and drive home. Easy, peasy. BUT, it's US! We woke up early, on our first day off mind you, loaded the truck, got gas, picked up breakfast (Del Taco) and were on our way. We're talking away on the drive and having a GREAT time. You know somethings going to happen...Just outside of Barstow the truck sputters and a "ding" from the dashboard. "CHECK YOUR GAUGES". The Oil Pressure plummets. We look at each other and say, "weird". Pat pulls off the freeway. We look under the truck to see if the oil is pouring out. No. But there's a weird noise coming from the engine. We look at each other and say, we need to turn around. Being half way between home and Las Vegas, it's a toss up, but the daunting road ahead into Baker, the smart thing is to turn around towards civilization. So, we do the smart thing and turn around. 2 miles on our way back to Barstow, "CLUNK"! We pull off to the side of the road, Pat puts the truck in Park and the truck stops running. He didn't turn the key off. So....THANKFUL THAT WE BOTH HAVE IPHONE 6's FOR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!! Our phones were blowing up! He's calling the owner of the truck letting them know what happened. I'm on YELP finding a good tow company our of Barstow. We found a great Tow Company and got towed into Barstow. It's 11am. We started this Adventure at 7am. They towed us to a Garage so they could let us know, what we already felt, the engine was toast! The truck needed a new engine. So.....We're stuck in Barstow with an expensive couch. So we talk to the mechanics and they let us know that the Tow Company who towed us in, rents U-Hauls. No other rental car company was open on Saturday after noon. ARGH! Pat Calls and gets a U-Haul. We go and PAY for the rental after PAYING for the tow. We load the U-Haul with the Couch. The expensive couch is getting more expensive as the day goes on. We hop in the U-Haul, gas it up, get food because, it's 1pm now and I'm hungry and getting cranky.
Side Note: Pat and I NEVER got mad, yelled at each other or anyone else. We worked together to get this done. WE even laughed a lot!
Back to the Adventure. Now we're back on the road to Las Vegas. Get to Nolan's house, unload the couch, set it up, fix little stuff in the house. Sat down on the Expensive Couch and tried to figure out how to get home. We could spend the night and fly home, but we didn't have a ride home from the airport. We decided to rent a car. The Cheapest rental car. Nolan was at work so he met us at the
U-Haul garage to turn it in. Then he took us to the Airport to pick up the car. PAID for the rental. Price of the couch still going up. We got about 30 minutes to visit with him. It's now 6:30pm. The car was a Nissan Versa. Skateboard with a car body attached. Small and good gas mileage. We bought a tank of gas so we didn't have to get gas before we returned it. Hop in the car and get on the road. It's 8pm. We stopped for food in Barstow. Grabbed a couple HUGE Breakfast Burritos and headed out. Took a deep breathe, released all the stress and got back to normal. Gabbing the whole way. We get to Oceanside (on the 15) and the Gas light comes on and says. "40 miles to empty". We're only 20 miles from home. Going up the hill to our exit, "26 miles to empty". Getting ready to exit "---------" and FLASHING!!! WTF does that mean! We exit. Part of the way home downhill, Pat says, we're in neutral...HA HA! Get to the bottom of the hill. Get to the first Gas Station we see, pull in....CLOSED!!! Again..WTF! Start the car, whew! Get to the next gas station, put $15. Jeez. It's 12:30am. We get home, leave everything in the car, go to bed!!! The next morning we have to wake up and take the car back. 9:30am. I follow Pat down to the Airport, we return the car, drive home and STAYED THERE!!! Back home at 11am. 24 hours after we broke down.
First Good Deed done. Second Good Deed
Oh! You thought I was done. NO!
Christmas Eve. My mom still had some more things stored in our garage from her move and we wanted to get it all up to her. We thought we'd take it up to her and have dinner with her since my step dad is gone until Feb.
Deja Vu...We wake up, load the car, get breakfast, and get on the road. This time on the 5 north. Not even to Camp Pendleton. A truck driving in from of us has one of his tool box lids flapping in wind. Pat says, "look, it's coming off!" It did. It flew off onto the road, slip toward us and we thought we'd drive over it. It's US remember? It took flight and Karate Chopped the Drivers Side mirror!!! So our mirror is dangling on Pat's door the whole way to mom's in Santa Monica. HA HA HA!!! I said some expletives, more expletives, and some more. Then I said, "CATCH THAT BLEEEEEEEITY BLEEEEP"! Pat says, "It's Christmas honey!" We get to mom's and show her what ELSE has happened. Good Deep #2. We had a nice dinner, drove home without incident. Found a mirror online and shipped to us CHEAPER that Pick a Part Wrecking yard.
All in All, we made it through without any anger, well except for my little moment. HA HA!!!
Hope Everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season!!! We actually did!!! More to come!
Enjoy The Ride!!!
Pat & Sondee
