A Series of Unfortunate Events

We were to leave from Vermont last Saturday, but I was waiting for something important in the mail. It didn’t arrive on Saturday, as it should have, so that meant that we had to wait till Tuesday, due to Independence Day. And on Tuesday, the important document arrived in the mail, so we were all set.

Except that we weren’t. I arrived at the rental car place only to discover that my license was suspended, apparently had been since March 4th. The reason? An unpaid ticket. Well, not exactly unpaid. I’d paid it online, but apparently missed the deadline by a day, so although I’d paid the original ticket, I was assessed a late charge of $20, and then since I blew off the stuff that the state sent me, I was assessed another $30 on top of that.

Wednesday morning, therefore, I had to drive to White River Junction to pay the $50 fine to the Judicial Bureau, then to Montpelier to pay the reinstatement fee. Then I had to haggle with Priceline, through whom I’d made the previous day’s reservation about just moving the dates of coverage. To get to them, I had to jump through several hoops, and I was just explaining the situation when the storm that moved through on Wednesday afternoon knocked out the power. Since we have only wireless, that meant the phone went out. The friend who’d agreed to drop us off at the rental place arrived in a downpour, and I got pretty soaked packing the stuff in her trunk. Then we had to weave around the downed branches and street clearing crews, as I tried to call Priceline again. I got a woman in India, I think, and explained that I just wanted this minor modification, and could she, etc., but no, she said that I had to cancel that coverage and get new coverage for the new dates, and that it would be about a week for them to review it, and now she was sending me to a customer service representative, and then I’d have to talk to sales again. She transferred me to the customer service guy, apparently in the States, who repeated what she’d told me and had no urgency about getting things rearranged despite my telling him that I was now 5 minutes from the rental place, and it being Vermont, we now went through a hollow where the signal was lost.

So, I rented the car and we set out. I’d been up since 5:30, and it was now about 4:30, and the Dragon Lady who’d given me the good news the previous day glowered at me over her spectacles, but finally let us have the car. Because the bridge at Ticonderoga continues under construction, we had to duck down to Shoreham to cross into New York state, but finally we were on our way, and I have to say that the sensation of driving a car that’s not continuously on the edge of a nervous breakdown is a strange and delightful experience. So, I drove and drove, and in the small slice of Pennsylvania that we go through on 90, having turned west at Albany, I decided to pull over and get some shuteye, because I was hearing strange music in my head. So, I had the distinct “pleasure” of paying $3.45 a gallon for gas at the PIlot station, and headed around back to find an unlit spot. After an hour, though, I gave up, because the coffee I’d drunk to stay awake wasn’t ready to let me sleep, and it occurred to me that I’d probably like to be through Cleveland before rush hour. So I drove almost through Ohio, and then crawled in between some RVs at the turnpike rest stop, and got a couple hours of sleep.

Really, the drive wasn’t that bad from thereon in. It turned out that that stop in Ohio was cheaper than any of the gas I saw in Indiana, but I did manage to pick up some cigs in Indiana, where they’re cheaper than they are in Ohio. As we were now past South Bend, I called my Chicago buddy Tom Bennett, who happened to be travelling the opposite way on 90 with a friend to pitch a concept to an ag company. They were 9 miles west of us, so we ended up stopping on exit 31 and having an impromptu chat about stuff before going again.

Took the Skyway, went through Chicago without too much trauma, the traffic being bad only for about 5 miles before and after the Loop. Got up to MIlwaukee to drop Mairéad off at Brendan’s apartment, since he was taking her to see Katy Perry at Summerfest, and then Aidan and I headed out to M&D’s place here in Mukwonago. Slept some that afternoon and got to bed at a decent hour, then yesterday Aidan and I drove into Milwaukee to Uncle Tim’s restaurant, and visited briefly before collecting Mairead, then to Uncle Matt’s business before collecting Mini-Matt, whose sisters, KC and Delaney, came out last night and stayed up till 4 am. I cleaned up their mess this morning before Mom and Dad got up.

Anyway, I’m here, and in one piece, and I apologize from being away for so long. As long as Brendan lets me use the computer, since my iPhone keyboard just shipped from Anaheim yesterday, I’ll be able to do some catch up. But anyway, I’m here, and I’m looking forward to getting back up to speed, so thanks again to Joy, whom I owe, big-time, and Matt and Peter and Rocketman and Dacia and everyone else who’s been filling in. I’m going to try to connect with some businesspeople out here regarding that dimension of this site.

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