In our last episode...
Lou and I were comtemplating whether we should go back to Columbus on Thrusday. We debated the whole trip back home, and by the time we pulled into our driveway, we knew we *had* to go back.

Thursday -- Day two

We left a bit later than the day before, since Lou's interview was at 2:30 and I was just going to apply to a call center I had heard about from a friend. (I posted about this earlier).

The trip started out smoothly enough...we even remembered the right maps. I had even found another complex that seemed to have all the amenities that we wanted including the right neighborhood.

Forty miles outside of Columbus, we blew a tire. It wasn't a bad blow physically...the tire just gave way..which wa a blessing considering I was going about 70 at the time (yeah, I have a lead foot..I admit it!)...but by the time I got the car to the side of the hiway, there was NO tire left.

So..out came the cell phones again...Lou called the place where he was to have an interview and told them the situation, and they located a towing service for us. But for some reason that til this day I cannot fathom, Lou didn't tell the guy to bring a spare tire. I mean, we knew what was wrong...but we were both dressed up and didn't want to get dirty changing a tire (which was only a donut anyway...not great for highway driving).

A side -- if you ever get stuck on the side of the road in central-Ohio, you'd best be prepared to fend for yourself, cuz no one slowed down to help, and two state workers walked past our car TWICE (not once, but TWICE) and never once asked if we needed assistance. And there was NO SIGN of a cop anywhere. Just thought I'd share that.

Anyway

So, half an hour later...the tow truck arrives. On the side it said "Bob"s Towing and Repair". Bob was the driver. Bob was strange...

Bob also ran his garage out of his house...in the sticks...WAY out in the sticks...while we were on the third dirt road, Bob begins to tell us about a young girl whose car had quit. He showed up to tow her, and she's was on her cell phone with her mother. The girl proceeds to describe where Bob is taking her and her car...and Bob said the girl kept repeating, "no mom, I'm fine. No mom, he's not taking me to the second location. No MOM, he's not going to kill me and dump my body somewhere..."

As Bob is regaling us with that story, I'm digging my nails into Lou's arm. He still has indentation marks. Bob then went on to tell us about all the charity work he does, that he accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, how he thinks both Bush and Clinton have sold us down the river, and how cement highway partitions have helped improve his business.

O K.

We get to Bob's garage (which is the garage of his house) and he tells us to make ourselves comfortable while he fixes our tire.

Bob lives on a farm. He has chickens, a rooster, peacocks (yeah, PEACOCKS!), ducks, swans, and a german shepherd who gets a kick out of chasing the above mentioned creatures all over the place. He laso has two ponds, both stocked with fish, and several paddle boats. Bob has quite a spread. I might have enjoyed it more, if I weren't so worried about getting chopped up and fed to the fish and fowl.

An hour later, (Bob's not very quick) there is a new tire on the car, which has been baptized in one of the ponds. We pay Bob and we get back on the road.

Next time - part three - Leap of Faith or "Couldn't you have asked me that BEFORE I left?"



- posted by Kim @ 10:20 PM