It Was Irritating . . . But It Could Have Been So Much Worse. And I Was Thankful.

As I type this, I am sitting in my hotel room near Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT.  In a few minutes, I will take the short drive from here to the Eastern States Exposition (the Big E) in West Springfield, MA to start setting up for this weekend’s big show. Yes, New England – we are expecting you.  For a while yesterday, I wondered if I was going to be here to welcome  you with open arms . . .

Yesterday was a travel day.  For the first several hours, I drove through swarms of bugs – many of whom decided to give their lives splattering my windshield.  I am not a big fan of trying to drive while looking through an obstructed windshield, but it beats those bugs splattering me.

It was irritating, but it could have been so much worse.  And I was thankful.

Later my cell phone rang – it was Gary, who started the conversation with “I think you left the credit card machines on your desk.”  Yes, I did – and they will have to be overnighted to me so I’ll have them to make your transactions easier this weekend.  Overnight shipments are expensive, but somehow Gary saw those machines through the clutter on my desk and I won’t have the agony of discovering on Saturday morning that I have no credit card machines.

It was irritating, but it could have been so much worse.  And I was thankful.

Then about 3:30, I was driving up a long hill on I-84 just after I crossed from Pennsylvania into New York.  Long hills always worry me because of the strain I imagine they put on a truck’s engine – especially when it’s hauling six tons of booth.  So I always breathe a sigh of relief when I get to the top and the motor relaxes.  I was about 1/4 mile from breathing that sigh when I heard a loud noise and lost all power.  As I stopped alongside the interstate, I also saw a large black puff of smoke.  And my heart sank.

I am not a “car guy” – so there wasn’t much point in getting out and looking under the hood.  Even if I saw the problem, I wasn’t equipped to fix it.  So I sat there and gathered my faculties – and then made the decision to try to start it (like the problem was going to magically go away – doesn’t this just sound like a guy?).  It started – I was able to drive up the berm – and I got past the top of the hill and was almost ready to pull onto the interstate and see how far I could get when I lost power again.  But I was at an exit ramp so I was able to get off the interstate and out of traffic.

Then I started searching the web on my cell phone for someone to come and ease my pain.  But in the middle of nowhere, I didn’t have enough signal for that.  So I called the International dealer in Dayton, who gave me the number of an International dealer in New York, who gave me the numbers of several roadside repair businesses in the area.  And while I was making calls and taking notes, I finally opened the hood and took a look inside.  A hose clamp had broken and a hose coming from the radiator had come loose – and when I described that to whoever I was talking to at the time, he said “Did the noise you heard sound like someone had fired off a shotgun?”  Yes – that’s exactly what it sounded like.  And his response was “Good – then this should be an easy repair.”

It was about an hour before the repairman arrived.  He grabbed a clamp and started to install it – but it was too big.  And he didn’t have the smaller version – he said that when a clamp breaks on this hose, it’s usually the other end and it’s much bigger.  Every time he went back to his truck, I expected him to return with “Sorry, I can’t fix this here – we’re going to have to get you towed in and it will take two or three days to get it fixed.  But this guy had a Ph.D. in horsesense (I told him so later) – he fashioned what I needed out of a couple of smaller clamps, and I was on the road again two hours after the initial “shotgun blast.”  

It was irritating, but it could have been so much worse.  And I was thankful.

When I arrived at the hotel, I decided that I needed ice cream from this great little shop about half a mile up the road.  But I’d had enough driving for the day, so I walked across parking lots and through vacant lots to get there – and the exercise felt good.  And let’s face it – when the lines are that long at 9:00 p.m., you know the ice cream is going to be good – and it was.

Back at the hotel, I did some computer work – and then I noticed that I had picked up a hitchhiker while I was out walking.  I had a tick on (in) my knee.  Thankfully, he hadn’t decided it was mealtime yet so he gave up his hold on my knee without much of a fight.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

It was irritating, but it could have been so much worse.  And I was thankful.