Testing, testing…..is she listening? Should we test her sense of humor??
Yes, I was listening and NO, I didn’t want my sense of humor tested!!!!
Listening I was when everything about selling my property, moving and finding a new home neatly fell into place. Why we stress about things is so totally ridiculous as things always work out in the timing that they should. It is just we impatient and anxiety ridden humans go crazy for no reason except for our fear that we are not looked out for.
Yes, my property was on the market for almost 2 yrs but I needed that time to be able to finally say good bye to it and also for the perfect people to be at a place where they could buy it AND for the property I bought to be free to purchase!
The time for closing on my home was rapidly approaching and I had no idea where I was moving to. I had looked all over CO, NM, AZ and NC but couldn’t find anything that seemed right or that I could afford. SO, I decided to make my way back to NH where I had lived for 20 yrs and, where my son and his family resided, but couldn’t find a place I liked there either! In a very short time I was looking at being homeless with 5 dogs and a cat!! THEN… my buyers asked if I would be willing to stay on an extra month after closing, rent free, so the place wouldn’t be vacant!! OK then Universe…..fine by me!!! Phew!!
During that time, I discovered that the breeder of my first 3 Ridgebacks had Alzheimers and that her family was waiting for a bed in a care facility to open up for her. I made contact with her brother to ask what was happening to the property and found it was in guardianship within the court system. He was very open to my coming and staying there as soon as their relative was in care but they had no idea how long it would be before a spot opened up. Hmmmmmm! I decided to trust that the timing would all work out and so it did. With only 1 week left in my month extension I got word that a nursing home spot had opened and they would be thrilled for me to come stay at the house so it wouldn’t be empty. It wasn’t yet available for purchase but I could live there! Now that certainly was serendipitous!!!!
My angels, Kristen and Trevor, brought their cargo trailer to my house, loaded up my stuff, took it to their house, loaded it into 2 U Haul pods, and headed them to NH!! Meanwhile, the Universe brought me another angel to drive me and the 5 dogs and a cat cross country! There was no way I could have done that by myself and I had been trying to find someone to drive me when a mutual friend sent me to Brenda! It just so happened that she had been wanting to see New England since she had never been there, she loved driving and was free to do it! I just had to pay for the travel and get her a plane ticket back!! WOW! That timing sure worked out!!
We planned on making the trip in 3 days, 2 nights and I booked motels ahead in OH and NY that would take dogs.
Now, do you see how everything just fell into place? It seemed as if, yes, NH was the right choice, I was being supported by the big U!! SO, why did my sense of humor have to be tested???? Had I missed some “sign” somewhere and taken a wrong turn?
COYOTE RULES!
In some Native American traditions, Coyote is a trickster, he likes to test how well you can roll with the punches!!!
Brenda and I set off on our adventure…… in a snow storm….it was October! All through CO and KS and beyond before we out ran it. THANK GOD I wasn’t driving!!! I would have fallen apart but Brenda was a real trooper and got us through! No problem with the hotel in OH, we settled all of us in and got a good rest for the next days run. All is good!!
In the early morning we start up my trusty, packed to the gills, almost 200,000 miles Suburban and the check engine light is on!! Now, I can NEVER figure out how something is working fine one moment and then it isn’t …..how is that possible??? There was no engine light when we turned it off the night before and it was running just fine. Do little gremlins come in the night and mess with things???? Whatever, it was early, nothing was open, the car was running so off we went hoping it was just “one of those things”.
All day, great travel, great weather, no hiccups in the car….and then we cross into NY and the car dies….just like that! We go through the toll booth, it hiccups and collapses!!! Seriously???? Well, at least the Universe provided us with a pull off just as it died….THAT I was VERY thankful for!! At least IT wasn’t leaving us on the side of the freeway!! OK, deep breath, I have AAA and a good tow package.
I call, a tow truck comes, the driver is accommodating and allows me to stay in the vehicle with the dogs! In the cold by the way….I hadn’t thought of that!! Oh well, the dogs weren’t alone and it was only an hour and a half to the La Quinta I had booked outside of Buffalo!! At least he shut off the strobe lights on the truck which threatened to scramble my brain!
At the hotel, the Suburban was deposited in the parking lot, I checked in and then….what to unload? I had no idea how long it would take to fix the car! So, we unloaded most of what was in it!!! 5 dogs, 1 cat, cat and dog food, kitty litter and pan, our clothes, the dog’s blankets and toys, our food, dishes, our computers and other entertainment, etc, etc. When I book motels I always ask for a room on an end near an outside door so I can sneak in the dogs. Even those hotels that accept animals don’t usually accept 5 big dogs!!! At least they all look alike so know one ever knows they are seeing different ones LOL!!!
Unloaded, room packed, dogs walked and fed and walked again, car double checked for anything we forgot, I call AAA to find a garage. Thankfully, there was one up the street and they said they would come tow the Suburban to it in the AM. OK…collapse!
Next day…car towed…me making hourly phone calls to check on progress….. Each call engendered hope as they said they had found something, the next call, no it wasn’t that, maybe it is this?? They finally decided it was the fuel pump. Ummmm….I just had that replaced so was pretty sure it wasn’t that but what do I know so I gave them permission to go ahead. By the end of the day I had quite the relationship going with Shawn, the call desk guy, and when he sheepishly called to tell me the fuel pump wasn’t it I almost felt sorry for him. OK then hotel people we are staying another night!! Ka ching!!
Next day, a repeat of the day before, couldn’t find out what was wrong with it and were giving up and towing it to the Chevy garage down the street after running up a bill of $3000!
During the next two days of head scratching from the Chevy mechanics I became best friends with Fred, their call desk guy and actually became a bit famous in the two garages. They all knew my story and they were all trying their best but no one had come up with any answers. Besides my AAA garage bill and the ever accumulating Chevy garage bill, never mind the hotel bill…… I finally decided I needed to put in an appearance at the Chevy garage. 3 days of sitting in the room, walking 5 very bored and rambunctious dogs multiple times a day, a cat going nuts locked in the bathroom with her litter box, our stash of dog food and human food running out, Brenda already missing her plane…….. Something had to give!
I took the hotel shuttle to the garage and introduced myself to my call buddy. He immediately took me to the mechanic who was working on the car and all their faces were grim. They had no idea what was wrong. OK then….are you telling me it is dead? Pretty much!! OK then, I guess I have to buy a new vehicle!! I was ferried to the front and introduced to a sales guy. Now buying vehicles is one of my least favorite things in the world to do. The stupid haggling that goes on really rubs me the wrong way so I was immediately leery of this guy. Pleasant surprise…he was great and this dealership doesn’t believe in haggling! No going to the manager to see if this price or that will be OK!! OMG! What planet was I on? He asked what I wanted, I said a used, cheap Honda Odyssey mini van…..he found a few, I picked the cheapest with the fewest miles, he ordered it and said it would come in about an hour. Meanwhile how to pay? My credit card wouldn’t do that much, they wouldn’t take a check….good thing I just happened to have a bunch of cash with me!! BUT…they also needed a bunch of ways to ID me! A license, passport, birth certificate didn’t pass muster on their own…I needed 5 different forms of ID! OMG!!! After much hassle we finally figured that all out.
Meanwhile, I got a ride back to the hotel and as I walked in the door, there is one of my dogs running down the corridor with Brenda in hot pursuit! She had been babysitting all day as I dealt with the car fiasco and my dogs were freaking out without me around. This one got loose, another one had had liquid diarrhea all day and Brenda had been changing sheets and towels and making friends with the cleaning ladies borrowing cleaning materials! OMG!! I couldn’t stop to help as I just came back to get my IDs and money and my ride was waiting!
Back at the garage we did the paperwork the car was gone over, it was now dark!! My salesperson helped me clean out the Suburban and transfer everything to the van which wasn’t nearly as big!! OK, I don’t see well in the dark and I didn’t have my glasses. I started to drive out what I thought was an exit and bottomed out the van……..OMG, did I just ruin my new van???? On top of that I was totally embarrassed as there was a woman standing there looking at my like I was totally crazy!! I got it unstuck, looked to see if anything was leaking and tried another exit that really was one!!
Thankfully I knew the hotel was somewhere straight down this busy road, just wasn’t sure how far. On top of not being able to see, I also get really anxious driving in traffic in unfamiliar places. Deep breath!!! I start off, make everyone behind me mad by staying in the left lane as I know I will have to turn left into the motel. Then the windows fog up……… I have no idea where the defrost is. I am frantically pushing every button on the console while trying to keep my eyes on the traffic all around me. I find the button to get the window down but it doesn’t help, the fog is creeping up the window and I am making myself as tall as I can in the seat to see over the fog. Just as I was about to go completely blind with window fog I see the hotel, turn in and freaking collapse!! OMG!!
I then have to deal with diarrhea dog, re pack the van as best as I can and tell the hotel people we would finally be leaving in the AM…..I’m sure they were happy to hear that!
The dark of AM comes…this is October….I load everything in the car, walk the dogs, get all animals and people in and phew, we can get back on the road!!! Brenda turns the key……nothing happens……..We turn and look at each other……..you have GOT to be kidding me!!!!!!
Again the Gremlins!!!!!??? We open the hood not having any idea what to look at. I look underneath sure that I had killed it the night before but saw no puddles or anything hanging down. We go back under the hood and jiggle things and hmmm…..the battery cable cap is loose. We put it back on, hold our breath, turn the key and …….it starts!!! OMG!!! BUT, there is NO damn way we are getting on the road without this being looked at!!
Back to the garage to wait in line for service to open. We get in, I go to my “guy” and he is shocked to see me and hear the issue. He gets us RIGHT in and “my” mechanic goes over it, cleans everything up and says we should be fine. OK…..only a little nervous here but off we go! Car is great, weather is great!! Diarrhea is flowing, dogs are freaking out all squished into one corner trying to get away from diarrhea dog!! Ah, so what the new car is covered in shit!!!
Only 4 days late and lots of money poorer we arrive, let the dogs out and they go nuts running and running and we almost kiss the ground to have finally made it. I am grateful!!
NEXT TIME…..the adventure continues……..in the meantime….
BE WILD!!!! and TRUST that all works out no matter how crappy it may seem at the time!!!
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