Woke up first thing in the morning on Dave & Eydie's very, very comfortable Aerobed and we immediately all began brainstorming as the best way to handle the situation.
This may sound like bragging...but I really don't care. I have some really awesome friends. And they have some really awesome friends. If it weren't for their assistance I would've been up shit creek sans paddle, sans canoe and sans bouyancy.
The mechanic where the truck driver dropped the car off was useless. They came in for 30 minutes to do a tire change and left. All they could offer to help was to leave the car there overnight and MAY BE they could get to it. Dave had the idea of getting a trailer to take the car to Santa Barbara. My AllState didn't cover a tow that far. My cute idea of signing up with AAA with better service didn't fly either. They have a fine print I have YET to find that says you can't take advantage of the neat features until 7 days later. I swear I NEVER saw that in any of the documentation. Ok, well off to the next plan.
Between Dave and Akilah, they found a trailer to tow my car on behind Dave's friend Honda Pilot. I was a wee bit concerned because the Pilot packs only a V-6, and it was going to have to carry a 3,600 lbs vehicle up some serious grades. We got the Pilot and I inspected the toe hitch. It said it was rated for 4,500 lbs. Well we headed to SB and go the trailer and the Pilot didn't skip a beat handling it. Back up the coast to get the car and we loaded it up. I think that driving the car up those skids may have caused more damage, but there was no other way. And oh yea, once the car was on the trailer the door banged on the wheel well of the trailer...haha! I had to do a Dukes of Hazzard to get out...and all my girth was not helping!
So off we went, foreign full-sized SUV towing an American full-sized coupe in its wake. Seriously, the entire trip could've been an ad for Honda. That Pilot didn't skip a beat. The RPMs remained steady and the temperature gauge didn't fluctuate at all as it hauled 3 large adults, a trailer and a big ass disabled car. I was impressed. We were all pretty damned impressed. Even the Firestone guy was impressed.
After dropping the car off, we made off for John & Cami's for some much needed R&R and drinks. John makes the best margarita - and there isn't a single ounce of margarita mix in the entire thing. We sat around talked, caught up, ate some bbq from a place nearby and just tried to decompress.
What a long ass day.
Posted by tony at June 15, 2008 10:58 PM | TrackBack