A Day With the Traveler

First, let me tell you one of my New Year's resolutions:
Read e-mails carefully and fully and immediately place any obligations and plans on my calendar.

Saturday morning I determined I was going to take the longest hottest shower known to womankind. Unbeknownst to me, Lee was outside, ringing the doorbell, wondering where I was, leaving me voicemail messages. When I finally got out of the shower, hair wet and all over my head, I realized there was a message on my machine, and then I heard the doorbell ringing. Throwing on my robe, I opened the door and there was Lee. He said, "Aren't we going to Bisbee?" I said, "No, we're going on Sunday. Didn't you say Sunday?" Then I came in to find his e-mail and determine that, yes, he had indeed said Saturday and I had read Sunday. I had a day full of things to do, including a dishwasher repairman I'd been waiting three weeks for. So Lee went off to find things with which to fill his day.

On Sunday morning, at precisely 7:30, he again rang my doorbell, and we set off in his cute little red S2000 to drive the almost two hours down to Bisbee to have breakfast at the Copper Queen and explore all the little galleries, shoppes and antique stores. We stopped at my Starbucks for a cuppa, and then headed south and east on I-10, 83 to Sonoita, 82 to 80 and then south through Tombstone. It was a gorgeous day and we were pointing out all the hawks on the power poles and a herd of antelopes just east of Sonoita. We were about five minutes south of Tombstone, tooling along around 65 mph, when all of a sudden we heard a grinding and the car quickly lost forward motion. We pulled onto the shoulder of the 2-lane road and hopped out. Lee opened the hood and spent 15 minutes trying to find the dipstick to check the oil. Once he found it, the oil was full and clean. Then he bent down and looked under the car and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Getting back in the car, he cranked the engine and it just purred. But it wouldn't move.

So we pulled out our phones and he called AAA, to learn that they would only pay for the first five miles of towing. Unfortunately, we needed to be towed to Sierra Vista, 16 miles away, to the dealer for warranty service. He then called his insurance provider and found he didn't have towing or car rental coverage unless he was in an accident. Meanwhile I was on the phone calling every car rental facility in Sierra Vista, all of which were Enterprise, and all of which were closed for a long weekend for their hardworking employees. Lee called his daughter and learned she was at her boyfriend's family's ranch north of Oracle - a good four hours away. Then he called his son and woke him up and bribed him with a $100 payment if he'd come down to Sierra Vista and get us.

I had just gotten a new phone on Saturday night and it includes Verizon Navigator. I didn't think I'd ever use this feature, as I have GPS in my car. But because I had this feature on the new phone, we were able to tell AAA exactly where we were. Without that, we wouldn't have even known the name of the road we were on! Trust me—this is a feature I'll be keeping, regardless of cost.

Then we started placing wagers on what the tow truck driver would look like when he arrived. Lee lost— the driver didn't have a pot belly. But he did have a lit cigar, to which I am horribly allergic. He got the car hooked up and Lee asked him if he'd mind extinguishing his cigar. Then I climbed in the back seat of the big truck and Lee got in the front and rolled the window down to try to protect me from all the fumes.



We got into Sierra Vista and pulled into the Honda dealer's lot. Fortunately I carry a checkbook with me, as the driver didn't accept plastic. Then Lee filled out the envelope and dropped his keys in the dealer's overnight drop. Two young men had just pulled into the dealer and were looking at cars and we asked if they wouldn't drive us to the nearest restaurant (we never did get breakfast and it was now just before noon). So they took us to Chili's and we had a calorie- and carb-laden lunch.

I had woken up with a headache at 4:00 a.m., and it was still with me. We walked to the Target next door and got some Excedrin and bottle of water, then spent a little time walking around Target. Then walked around Staples. Then found a bench in the shade and waited for Brett and Ashley, Lee's son and DIL, to arrive.

They took us back to my house and I told them I'd take Lee home, as they live in SE Tucson and he lives in NW - some 25-30 miles apart.

We left my house at 7:30 a.m. and I finally got back home around 4:00 p.m.

When this boy says he wants to travel, he's not kidding!

P.S. When he spoke with the dealer today, they told him the transmission seal had broken or blown or whatever the appropriate term is, and all the transmission fluid had flown out in an instant. The car has 7700 miles on it! Honda has to order the part from Japan!!

We're thinking they're not going to have it ready by next Saturday, but we're going to take a little drive back down to Bisbee for breakfast again.

Lee's confidence in Honda is completely gone, and as soon as he gets this cute little vehicle back, he's going to be selling it and buying something a tad more practical.

For your enlightenment, here's the map of our trip.