The Loneliness of the Long Distance Driver
I've been driving from South Minneapolis to St. Cloud and back five days a week for almost a semester now, and lately the weather has kicked up a notch in the slipping, blowing, and drifting departments. I wrote "loneliness" above, but really the feeling that I sometimes get when making this commute is angst. Anger that other drivers are whipping past me at what I consider highly inappropriate speeds given the road conditions. Fear that the next semi to barrel around my trusty (yet kinda wimpy) little Corolla station wagon is going to inadvertently push me into the ditch. Weariness that I am wasting 2 1/2 hours a day in the car that I could be spending on homework.
Something happened yesterday, however, that gave me a much brighter outlook. My car blew a tire on the way to school. This may seem to be a not terribly positive event, but let me say this: it could have been SO MUCH worse. Consider the following:
1. It was a rear tire, not a front tire, so the car remained in control.
2. It was after rush hour, so traffic was light.
3. The roads were dry, which was a good thing. It has been a fairly icy week.
4. I was still in Minneapolis, so I was able to take the next exit, and thus not be stuck with a flat on I-94.
5. I called my brother and he was able to direct me to an alignment shop where they put my spare on for me. (I could have changed it myself, but it was dang cold out!)
6. All in all, it took me less than an hour to get back on the road. (though by that time I had missed my class.)
7. My husband had a friend at work who drives the same type of car I do and happened to have a set of rather nice snow tires that he had decided not to use this year. When he heard what had happened he offered to lend/sell them to us. We picked them up last night and hubby put them on my car when we got home. AND when he took the car for a test drive he also filled my gas tank!
All in all, it was a very good experience; one that made me feel like a pretty lucky person, indeed.
Something happened yesterday, however, that gave me a much brighter outlook. My car blew a tire on the way to school. This may seem to be a not terribly positive event, but let me say this: it could have been SO MUCH worse. Consider the following:
1. It was a rear tire, not a front tire, so the car remained in control.
2. It was after rush hour, so traffic was light.
3. The roads were dry, which was a good thing. It has been a fairly icy week.
4. I was still in Minneapolis, so I was able to take the next exit, and thus not be stuck with a flat on I-94.
5. I called my brother and he was able to direct me to an alignment shop where they put my spare on for me. (I could have changed it myself, but it was dang cold out!)
6. All in all, it took me less than an hour to get back on the road. (though by that time I had missed my class.)
7. My husband had a friend at work who drives the same type of car I do and happened to have a set of rather nice snow tires that he had decided not to use this year. When he heard what had happened he offered to lend/sell them to us. We picked them up last night and hubby put them on my car when we got home. AND when he took the car for a test drive he also filled my gas tank!
All in all, it was a very good experience; one that made me feel like a pretty lucky person, indeed.
posted by Lemony at 11:10 AM
1 Comments:
So glad you're OK, my little Lemony! You're right - it could have been MUCH worse.
As I read your post, it warmed my heart to see that you called your brother. I remember times when you BOTH were sure you wouldn't like each other when you grew up - no matter what your mom said. I kinda like you both and I'm glad you "found" each other.
I also liked to see the reference to your husband. I kinda like him too.
Love you munch -
Noona
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