More Comings and Goings -- and Stayings

Something Tranquil -- Needed Around Here

So....Chicago son got home at 1:00 a.m. Saturday due to a massive traffic jam.  His dad had a terrible time reaching Chicago and chose a different way home, only to learn that that road was blocked and homes were being evacuated due to an overturned hazmat trailer.  The alternate route?  The one that had given him so much trouble getting out there, of course.

Ten loads of wash (for me) and 12 hours of sleep (for him) later, I delivered that child to the bus station for his trip to North Carolina.  We had to wait an hour, and then I waited another 20 minutes past its departure time for the bus to leave.

Early the next morning, I got up for a few minutes and felt a flood of relief at not having received a telephone call -- he had to be well on his way.  Just as I drifted back to sleep, though, the phone rang.  Oh, well.  The bus had broken down after only 45 miutes. They had, of course, missed their connection.  He was routed on to the next bus, which required another transfer, and was feeling a little disconcerted by Greyhound's decision to handle the luggage itself.

Hours later I called the camp where he's working.  "Oh no, he's not here yet -- the bus is stuck in teaffic on the other side of the mountains," the secretary said calmly.  "Yesterday the road was closed for awhile when a trailer full of cucumbers overturned.  Maybe today it's tomatoes -- who knows?

He did make it, with his luggage, a full 22 hours after leaving our house. (It's a 10-hour drive.  I could have been there and back.)  Or maybe not.  I'm here to write about it because....my car battery died in the garage an hour ago!

So now it's time for a walk back to the gas station to retrieve the car and see what other transportation disasters await.  We're leaving for Florida on Thursday -- I can just imagine.

Walked: 1 pathetic mile.