Thursday, September 11, 2008

Go to a 'Gentlemen's Club'? Yeah, sure!!

Or at least that's what we ended up doing Monday nite on our way back to Raleigh from Knoxville.
Not intentionally.
Not willingly.
But when that's where the car dies, there's not much of a choice.
Yes - it's true.
My car had a light come on as we were entering Asheville. Long story short: we were trying to find an auto parts store to tell us what was wrong, missed a turn, were on the way back when the great little Saturn I have decided to just die. I was just barely able to coast into the parking lot of "The Trophy Club." Upon further inspection we realized it was a 'Gentlemens Club'.
And truly they were gentlemen, but what an awkward place for my car to just give up. Really? There?
So - we had a guy jumped the car, but it wouldn't hold the charge. Turns out the battery was bad and it made the alternator work harder.
Or as every person looked at it stated, "Yeah, the alternator is definitely SHOT." Lovely.
"Oh, but it's a pretty cheap part. And really easy to do."
"Yeah, but do you happen to have an alternator in your back pocket, cuz I certainly don't."
It was about 8-ish at nite when the car stopped. It's not like an auto parts store was open. We knew, we were racing to get there before they closed. No luck. So - even if it was easy to replace (each guy totally knew how), it's not like anyone had the parts or tools with them. We were stuck. I called the lucky AAA and they hooked me up with a tow.
But in the meantime, we really had to use the little girls' room. Where else to go, but inside the club. Off we went . . . It wasn't so bad. We didn't see anyone, luckily.
But since we had a lot of bags we had to have in the hotel (bag each girl, my laptops, and the food bag), we decided to just take a taxi. Man, did we feel like a couple of lost puppies.
A couple of the guys offered us a ride to the hotel, but we really felt more comfortable with a taxi driver. Although when he showed up, we were a bit hesitant. Not only was he a bit on the strange looking side, but his ride-along friend was apparently on some drugs. "I took 5 Vicadin (sp), so I'm ready for a fight," he said. Or something about taking a bunch of Vicadin (sp). I'm just glad he wasn't driving.
By the time we got to the hotel and checked in, I was ready to crash. Talk about stressful! We had hoped to be home in Raleigh, in our own beds, by 11-ish. Instead we were stuck in a hotel in Asheville with no around and a car we had to wait to get fixed. Ugh!! So much for work the next day... My car did get fixed - a few hundred dollars later - and we got home, finally! We thought we were never going to get there... But we did. And the car is running fine. Although, I'm definitely getting rid of it. I mean, hey, it has a new battery and alternator - that's good stuff!!

1 comment:

Brittany said...

wow, that's quite a story! I'm glad ya'll made it back ok.