The following post is from Eric:
On the road, stuff will happen. Sometimes the good, sometimes the bad and sometimes the ugly. I think this trip had it all. As far as the convention goes, this one went as smooth as any NCBA Convention that I can remember. I said as much to Lynne on the way to my Sunday morning class. I’m hesitant to admit this, but I do mess up from time to time and here is the full disclosure of a few of those screw-ups.
Let’s start at the beginning. On our way down to North Carolina, we decided to pull into a Red Roof in Pennsylvania for the evening. It’s rural and we have stayed there before. It’s late, there wasn’t many people around, and I left the GPS in the dashboard holder. Next morning, as Lynne is still waking up, I walk over to the office for a cup of coffee. As I am walking back to the room I see a little orange piece of paper stuck under my windshield wiper. I said to myself, “What the heck is that? It’s too early for some solicitation.” I open it up and it’s from the Harrisburg, PA police department! Oh great. This can’t be good. Evidently, a local patrol officer making his rounds at 3:00am saw my GPS and left me a little note to hide it. Normally I do, but this is the one day I didn’t. You will see why I mentioned this, later, and how it’s my screw-up number one.
Let’s move forward to Sunday in North Carolina. It’s 7:30 in the morning and Lynne is driving me to the convention which is two miles away from our hotel. She says we are out of gas and that it’s below empty. I say “We have enough get to the hotel and back a couple times, so don’t worry about it.” I will later discover that not listening to Lynne on that morning is screw-up number two.
We move forward to Sunday afternoon. It’s the end of the convention and we’re back at the hotel. In my normal fashion, I begin to repack and condense all of my tools, supplies and our personal items in the van so we can leave early in the morning. I am in and out of our room for the next hour or so, unlocking and locking the vehicle. Screw-up number three: I must not have locked it that last time.
This brings me to Monday morning. As I open the van I see that someone has rummaged through everything. My carefully packed van is now all messed up. The glove box is open, my tool boxes are tipped over and paper work is spilled all over the seats. After the initial shock, I look to see if anything was taken. Nothing. Not even the GPS the police officer thought might attract a thief. It was taken out of the glove box where I left it and this would-be thief left it on the seat. The one good thing about being a basketmaker is that a thief doesn’t want anything that you find valuable! Even the GPS is old and not worth it to a robber! Luckily, I still have all my tools and inventory because a common criminal has no use for it.
Move forward to two hours later and back to screw-up number two, that I mentioned before. We pull out of the hotel and come down the hill to the main drag. The gas station is directly across the road. The traffic is heavy and fast-moving with 4 lanes and then we hear sputter…sputter… buzz… caplunk. Oh great. To add insult to injury, we ran out of gas. I guess there was not enough to travel twice and back. Lynne was right. But she never rubbed it in. (Until the next day).
On the lighter side, we own another gas can and Chance loves his new cap he got for $1.00 at the NCBA Store. He wears it proudly.
A very long time ago, I was on a road trip to drop off my big sister Lynne at college in So. Illinois. Our mother came along too and while in the middle of Pennsylvania, our car was running on fumes. Though we never officially ran out of gas, a certain someone who may write a particular blog, did manage to fill a container full of liquid because of our situation. It was a confusing mess… Damn those 80’s horror movies!
Oh Great. Thanks for bringing that up Tripp. However, nobody ask me what he’s talking about because I’m not answering.
OMG! Don’t even talk to me about running out of gas. I am notorious for running on fumes. After the one time I ran out I swore I would never do it again, but I have still run the gauge past E a couple of times. It is so nerve racking that I can’t believe I do it. I did it one time on the way home from the Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat and thought I would have a stroke by the time I coasted into the gas station. That time I also swore I would never do it again…
Glad that ultimately everything worked out OK though!
I hear you Tony! I’m the one who runs the tank to Empty. And Eric is always reprimanding me! So I did not make a big deal of it because I knew I could use this as ammunition later! I calmly sat in the driver’s seat at the intersection while Eric ran across the street to the gas station. But I was getting annoyed at all the cars that kept getting right behind me. The hazard lights were on but people no longer pay attention! I’d have to open the door and wave people around. Thanks for your comment! Because I’m the one who usually does this! And I cannot wait until Eric scolds me about leaving it on empty. All I need to say is “At least it’s not ‘that empty’ so you run out of gas.”
Wow, i did not even get to meet you at NCBA, and i wanted to! it was a fabulous convention, and i was busy, and Eric was busy too in his own little corner, which i know was nice for him. I am really enjoying your blog. I want to know how the thundervest worked out. Chance does look great in his visor. Is he a labradoodle?
I know! I walked around the tables in that room every day looking for people, but it was so big, and so many chairs! We’ll meet next time. The thundervest actually worked. We did notice that it does have a calming effect. But if he wears it longer than a few hours, I think he forgot it was there and barked a few times at passersby. So I took it off. But noticed that he was a lot calmer than usual! Instead of barking 5 to 7 big barks in a row like he normally does, it was one bark and not too loud. And before he gets into his ‘neurotic’ state, we’re able to calm him down with our words (meaning, he decides to actually listen to us for a few seconds). So the thundervest is a keeper! And he is a goldendoodle.
Oh you guys just made my morning! What a hysterical laughing boob I am this morning, glad no one is around to see and hear me. Nice to hear that I’m not the only one that this sort of “stuff” happens to. Glad the convention itself went well, that’s a plus anyway.
Thanks Cathryn! Yes, ‘stuff’ happens to the best of us!
Susan, you are correct about that! Chance always looks good. But he’s hiding his eyes because he’s a little embarrassed by us!
I am so glad that you didn’t loose your GPS because I know that you would never stop and ask directions!
And Chance looks quite handsome in his hat.