Blowout

In every trip there is a potential for disaster. Past history has dictated that disaster will occur at some point when I travel. Our Cape Cod vacation was not an exception to this rule.

J and I left the Cape at 3:00 AM. Five hours later we were crossing the New York / New Jersey border and feeling confident that we would be home by 3:00 that afternoon. While I sleepily and quietly celebrated the successful ending to our trip, J ignored the loud thumping noise on the pretense that it was coming from a different vehicle, until I pointed out that there were NO cars around us.

We had blown out the driver's side front tire. As J opened the door, the acrid smell of burned rubber wafted into the van. I spent the next hour sitting on the side of I-287 South as J removed the spare from the rusted clips and replaced the shredded tire without getting hit. My job was to stay in the passenger seat and hold the lug nuts.

I have heard many complaints over the years that the residents of New Jersey are a most unfriendly bunch. As the daughter of a former “Jersey Girl” (my mother dated a mobster's son), who still has relatives in the state, I always found the criticisms to be unfounded.

As we walked into the Wayne, NJ location of Strauss Discount Auto, the first thing we noticed was four mechanics sitting on a stainless steel truck box and two more standing behind the counter. It was Monday, it was early and they were bored. Regis and Kelly played on the television.

Noticing that the coffee point was almost empty, one employee offered to make us a fresh pot. When he learned that I preferred tea, he rushed to get fresh water. When he discovered the water was not warm enough, he poured it into two Styrofoam cups(!) and sent one of the “girls” to heat it up in the microwave. He hunted down and cleaned up a plastic fork so we would have a stirrer for the sugar and told us about his former job as a night driver for the postal service. This included a graphic tale about time he witnessed the remains of a woman being shoveled off the highway. The woman had stepped out of her vehicle to change a tire.

After replacing the tire and lowering the pressure in the other three, we were sent to the checkout. Upon learning we were from Pittsburgh, the clerk exclaimed “I really want to visit Pittsburgh. That is where all the Steeler stuff is!” She was a Steeler fan and spent several minutes trading notes with J on the team.

We pulled into out house at 6:00 PM. As I attempted to unlock the front door I discovered that one of the pet sitters had jammed the lock and the door would not open. Exasperated, I trudged to the back and after several minutes managed to get into the house.

All that and I did not even sleep well Monday night. Too wired.