Quick Trip to Colorado

I decided to take a quick trip to Colorado today to see my brother and sister. Also, I'm setting myself up for one more storm chase in western Kansas on Monday on the way home, so it just made sense to drive out to Colorado in the meantime for a visit.

The drive out was OK, although it was a comedy of errors the entire trip. I got a late start leaving Omaha as I realized I forgot to send 50th birthday cards to my brothers! Happy birthday guys! Then, I realized I only had 1 stamp, but had 2 cards to send. So, I had to stop and gets stamps too. I decided to stop in Kearney to get some lunch, but had to go to the bathroom first. There was only 1 person in line at the Subway, so I thought it would be OK. Upon exiting the bathroom, a family of 11 (3 adults and 8 kids) were now in line. Ugh, it took 30 minutes to get sandwiches made for that brood. By the time I got my sandwich, I was torked. Needless to say, since I was running late, I hit the road. Because of the high gas prices, the truckers seemed to have slowed down to 60 to 65. I guess they're just trying to save a little money by driving a little slower. That's not a problem, unless you get stuck in a convoy and get past them. I got stuck in 3 separate convoys throughout the day. It was only slightly annoying. Plus, I was on a deadline and had to be at my brother's house by 5pm. Time was running low. Then, about 50 miles outside of Colorado Springs, my battery light came on. Damn. I guess the alternator probably blew. This happened just outside of Simla, CO, and I was too worried about the battery light to realize that I had gone from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35 in the span of about 2 blocks. So, I got pulled over for doing 60 in a 35. I pleaded with the officer that I had a "legitimate" excuse, even though he's probably heard it hundreds of times. Funny thing, he actually believed me. We popped the hood to make sure the belt was on, it was, and he said to get going. I was very thankful that he understood. It's a bad feeling to have your car break down hundreds of miles from home.

So, after a very eventful day, I arrived at my brother's house on a wing and a prayer. The battery died about 2 miles from his house, and I literally coasted onto his street.

It's always something with that car. Well, with almost 170,000 miles, what else would you expect. I guess I shouldn't get so bent out of shape when the car breaks down, I've sure experienced my fair share of them. You have to have transportation, there's nothing else you can do "but" repair the car. I'm beginning to think more and more that now is the right time to get a new car. I was trying to nurse this one along for as long as possible, but it's becoming an increasingly difficult challenge.