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July 02, 2006

Day 1 of Drive

A trip cross country could not go smoothly, right?

The last time I went to Lubbock, I took the southern route. It was alright although there were some mountains and tight curvy roads. It took about 10 hours...not so bad.

After talking to mom, I decided to go the northern route, taking the 40 across.

As I drove out, I noticed my navigation system was showing I was going the wrong way. Something wasn't hooked up right. So I drove it to the installer, had them fix it, so I didn't get on the road until 10:30 am.

Taking the northern route was a big mistake! 4th of July weekend through Phoenix and Flagstaff....dumb!!

About 6 hours into my trip, my AC stopped working. Now, I just purchased my vehicle new in Feb, and it does have almost 12,000 miles on it...but the AC shouldn't stop working!

After fooling with the knob, the only thing I can get out of it is heat! Eck! I am in Arizona!!

It's 4pm and I am rushing to search for the nearest Ford Dealership. There is one in Winslow, AZ, that I passed 10 miles ago. So I turn around, get them on the phone and they say there is nothing they can do for me, they are booked. I explained that it just felt like the knob wasn't catching, and he said the AC is a complicated system and they wouldn't have time. I asked him what he suggested I do and he said get to Albuquerque and try and get in Saturday morning.

While drenched in sweat, I call the dealership in Albuquerque and they say that they can try to get me in Saturday, but there would be no guarantee. I am already on a serious time crunch, each day planned across the way.

So while I'm driving down the road, I tear off my dash and start feeling behind the AC knob to see if I can figure out what's wrong. I finally pull over, look behind and the teeth on the knob aren't touching the teeth that control the temperature. I couldn't get the teeth to connect again, but I could manually turn the temperature knob. So now, I have off, or freakin' cold! And I'm okay with that.

My dad has a good dealership I can go to when I get to Kentucky.

I'm starting to feel worn out, pissed that I'm running late, so I figured I'll stop in Albuquerque for the night and head out in the morning for Lubbock. Early in the morning as I had a hair appointment at 11am.

Once I reach Albuquerque, I do not feel like stopping...so I keep going. 300 miles to Lubbock and I did not want to stop! About an hour out of Lubbock, I got stopped at a sobriety check point where the guy wanted to have a freaking conversation about my navigation system, if it actually worked, did it cost me monthly, etc. He had no idea I had been driving for 12 hours and was ready to go!

I finally get into Lubbock at around 2:15 am. I've been here a few times before. Spurs & Napster's address is too new to be recognized by the navigation, so luckily I had my printed directions.

The problem is, they have these stupid loops in Texas that don't make any sense! My map says to go north/south, the loop says east/west. What the hell?

After driving around parts of Lubbock I have never seen before, through farm land, downtown, construction and new territory.

Finally, I get to their house at 3am. I barely remember saying hello to Napster as I came in and went straight to bed.

So there's day 1 of the trip! Tomorrow I head to Austin to spend 4th of July on my friend's boat. Only a 360 mile drive...not so bad.

Here's to the rest of the drive going just a little more smoothly!

Posted by Sissy at July 2, 2006 11:35 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Just be careful. Holy crap - you pick the "best" weekends for these damned cross country drives. ;-)

Posted by: Tammi at July 2, 2006 12:06 PM

Holy Crap! Travelling on the weekend of the 4th? Ewww....

Too bad you won't be heading 40 through OKC....would love to meet you.
Although Hippie of Bohemian Rhapsody is on vacation in Atlanta right now (they leave Atlanta on the 6th or 7th.)

Posted by: Rave at July 3, 2006 08:25 AM