Ouch…

Trying to get home from Dallas this past Thursday night was not to happen due to the storms hitting the area and the continued issues with Chicago air traffic control. But, I finally got on a Friday evening flight and headed home to arrive into Grand Rapids , MI at 12:30 AM.

But the challenges to actually getting to my house continued once I arrived at Gerald R. Ford International airport in Grand Rapids. The battery in my truck was dead when I tried to start it in the parking garage. (Ouch #1) Fortunately GRR parking patrol was quick to show up and give me a jump so that I could be on my way home. Of course, I had to get out of the parking garage. As I approached the parking booth to pay my fee, I watched the parking ticket that I had put on my dashboard, slip down and into the little, tiny gap between the dash and the windshield. I pointed it out to the parking attendant after I pulled up to her booth. “Can you see it?” I asked. From the outside, she said “Yes. I can see a tiny corner of it.” She offered me her nail file to try and slide it out. We both laughed about it as I made my attempt, but, to no avail. I thanked her for her help and told her the days I had parked there so she could ring up my charge. She told me my fee and added “There’s a $15 penalty for not having your ticket. “But you saw it!” I exclaimed. “I saw it, but I don’t have it. My register doesn’t know that.” She replied. Realizing that it was futile to argue with a cash register at 1:00 AM in the morning, I grumpily paid and was on my way. (Ouch #2) I drove home carefully, in the cold, rainy blustery night, not wanting anything more to happen. And nothing did, until about 5 miles from my house. Suddenly, the steering wheel started handling funny and the car started shaking. I pulled over. A flat tire. (Ouch #3) So, in the cold, rainy blustery early morning, I found myself wrestling the old tire off and putting on the spare doughnut tire. I very.carefully.drove the rest of the way to my house and finally made it home as the clock said 2:30 AM. I was too wound up to try and sleep so I changed out of my wet clothes and started going through the week’s accumulation of mail.

The first letter I opened was from my bank. It was congratulating me on paying off my truck that week.

And the (traveling) adventure continues…