Tonight was… well… interesting?

The day was a mixed bag. I had a great morning, go to customer site on time, had a decent morning, complete with getting signal at the customer site, when yesterday I had none, followed by a bumpy but satisfying afternoon of work, and an agonizing delay of my return to my hotel room.

After class was over, I got pulled into a meeting that really I had no reason to be at. The room had no signal and I sat there whilst the rest of the folks worked and discussed items that didn’t pertain to me. Eventually, we headed to dinner, which was surprisingly good meal at a place that was formerly the mini mart of a gas station. While we were in the restaurant, it poured miserably and got all the more humid. I began my drive home at almost 8pm. The trip was going well until I apparently hit a rock in the road and blew out my front passenger tire. The road was a two lane highway with a soft sloping shoulder and as I pulled over, I realized that there was NO way I could safely jack the car on the soft, wet shoulder and so I called Roadside Assistance. Thank goodness I wasn’t a half mile up the road, or I wouldn’t have had a signal on my phone.

Roadside Assistance called me back and told me that someone would be by within an hour. I was nervous but settled back in and began to wait. Thank goodness for Shawn and Pinoyboy. Shawn calmed me down and Pinoyboy chatted me up while I waited. Things seemed to be on the right track until the recovery company called to say that their truck was broken down and they could not come. Yes that’s right… they could not come. I waited another 15 min or so for Roadside Assistance to call me back and they didn’t. I called them and found out that the recovery company had not bothered to call Roadside Assistance to tell them they weren’t coming! Roadside Assistance set about finding another company to come, only to call and tell me that there were NO OTHER companies they worked with in this area and I’d have to wait about 3 hours for them to come! THREE HOURS? I was on a dark, creepy, road in the middle of no where West Virginia!

Just then a State Trooper stopped by and asked me if I needed help. I explained the problem and was almost embarrassed when I explained that I didn’t think it was safe to change the tire, he agreed, which made me feel better. He called someone to help and thank goodness within 20 minutes there was someone there with a huge floor jack and got my “donut” on in no time flat and I was on my way!

Now, I just have to get a real tire on before I head home.