Road Trip, Part I

I woke up to the alarm at 4:30 AM. Why so early? I had to be at the Volvo Dealer as close to 7:00 AM as possible if I had any hope at all of getting back to work by 8:00.

I drove there without incident even though the beginnings of today’s snow storm had already started. But the pavement was dry and the traffic was light at that time.

I had called on Wednesday and asked for a Saturday morning appointment, but the unknown cause of my complaint (stalling at lights) was such that they strongly recommended my dropping it off, so they had all day to diagnose it.

So, I took care of business and, before I took off in the loaner, the Service Manager asked if I had everything I needed out of my car. I had the garage door opener and my handicapped mirror tag, so I said yes.

Then I drove off into the storm. By then, the roads were bad. The Southfield freeway had enough snow on it that there were no dry tracks to run in. So, everyone just went slow (I seriously doubt we ever got above 30 MPH and 20 was more the norm). I-96 was just as bad, and I didn’t get to work until 8:30 AM.

The snow kept falling, so my morning walk was inside.

It wasn’t until I was ready to go to lunch that I remembered another thing I should have taken out of the car: my ice scraper! I improvised with a plastic ruler.

None of the surface streets were plowed or salted, so I just went down to the Time Out and got a cup of beef barley soup and a patty melt. Both were excellent (and cheap).

The snow had stopped by 1:00 PM. Now the only outside problem (other than the slippery roads) was a light fog. Inside, I couldn’t stop yawning all afternoon.

I finally was heading home after 5:00 PM. Instead of banging the drum, I was listening to WDET, the local public radio station.  I had turned it on driving back to work from the dealership to help pass the time.

When I got home, I noticed it was dark enough, probably due to the fog, that Santa wasn’t dancing in the window. I like to see that and pretend he’s just happy to see me. It makes me smile.

I changed clothes after treating the cats. I had a cup of coffee and started watching the news. My daughter Melissa called about 6:30 PM. We had a very interesting conversation, but I do have to apologize if I kept her on the phone too long! My bad.

After we hung up, I made a roast beef sandwich for a late dinner. I started watching a TV show, but fell asleep almost immediately. Getting up at 4:30 AM had finally caught up with me.