Free Candy For Everyone

My car has arrived. Not just the wheels, in fact, but the entire car! But it was a bit more of an adventure than I had anticipated. You see, as I planned my move from Boston to San Francisco many people asked me “Are you going to drive cross-country?” This question was always met with a very assured “No!” I like travelling well enough, and seeing the interesting sights of the country. But the idea of spending multiple days trapped in a small metal box with only my yowling cat for company was not enticing. So I wisely (I think) decided to hire some car movers to transport my vehicle on a truck across the country.

It starts with the pickup in Massachusetts. They tell me they’re going to pick it up Saturday morning between 10 and 1. Ok, I say. I can live with that. Then Friday at around 3 they call me again, “Hey, the driver is a bit early, can he pick it up tonight?” Um. No. I had lovely social plans that required me to maneuver about the big ole state of Massachusetts. No problem, they’ll pick it up in the morning then. Morning comes and I get a call from the driver whose English language skills leave much to be desired. After a lot of confusion and ultimately a call from his dispatcher to explain things, it turns out he’s claiming he can’t get the truck to my home. Mind you, I was living on a state highway. It was plenty wide and would most certainly have fit his truck. But after arguing for 10 minutes, I cave in, drive my car down the big hill to the 7-11 where he’s parked. I give him the keys to the vehicle, he gives me a tiny little piece of paper. Fair trade, yes? Then I walk the 2-3 miles up hill in the hot, sweltering summer heat to get back to my condo.

Funny little story, you say, but not all that bad. Whatever, I walk 10 miles uphill everyday! Well, just wait, ok, it gets better!

Delivery in 7-10 days, they told me. Ok then. So I flew out to California and rented a car assuming worst case of 10 days for delivery. That would have been on Tuesday. Monday rolls around and I haven’t heard anything about my car so I call them up. “Oh yeah, Infiniti G35, it’s in Los Angeles. We’re waiting to have a full truck to drive it up to San Francisco.” Um. Ok. But tick tick, I’m waiting.

Tuesday, I call them again. “Oh, G35! Yeah, you’ll have it tomorrow!” Great! I get excited for the idea of turning in my Sebring and getting to drive my own lovely vehicle again. A few hours later “There was a problem with the hydralics on the truck when we were loading it and we won’t be able to get you the car until at least Friday.” ! I tried to remain calm, but this was not what I wanted. “Well, you see, I was promised the car in 10 days, and that’s well over that. And now it’s starting to get expensive, that’s 2 more days of my rental car, and - ” He responds, “We’ll see what we can do.” And then I hear nothing.

The next day I call again, it’s Wednesday. “Oh, G35, it’s on its way to Sacramento, you’ll have it at around 4 tonight.” Great! I make plans, I get myself mentally psyched. Later in the day “It’ll be more like 5:30″. Ok. Well, I still am getting the car, so I go and return my rental car. And sit and wait. At around 6 with no word from them I call again “The driver is stuck in traffic, it’s going to be around 7:30.” *sigh*

I settle and and wait. And wait. And now it’s 7:30 and my phone is ringing. “The transmission on the truck has overheated and it’s leaking. The driver is taking it slow. He’s about 10 miles from you, but it’s going to take him a while to get there.” This just gets better and better! So I wait some more, scarf down some food, and the phone rings again. The dispatcher and I, we’re getting to be good friends by this point. “Tara,” he says, “can I ask you to do me a favor?” I reply, “You can ask.” He laughs and says, “My driver can’t move at all. He’s lost all his transmission fluid. Do you think you could drive to a gas station and pick up 7 jugs of transmission fluid and deliver them to my driver who’s on the side of the highway?” Whoa. This is way beyond the regular demands you make on a customer! After some discussion, including a promise of immediate reimbursement for the cost of the stuff, I get in my aunt’s minivan and drive on out.

I buy the transmission fluid and find him by the side of the road. I hand it all over and stand there waiting to see what happens next. Meanwhile, my aunt and uncle call me to see what’s going on, and end up joining our party on the side of Route 280. Quite a line of cars we had going there. The fluid helps! He’s able to get moving. We decide to just pull off at the next exit and find any open spot to unload the car. He thinks that once the truck is lighter he’ll be able to drive it. Unfortunately…

The next exit is a mere few yards ahead. We all pull off and he’s following us. I don’t know if you’ve been here to northern California, but it is mighty hilly. Hills hills everywhere. This exit ramp merged on to a road that sloped up and up. Not nearly as bad as some that I’ve seen, but enough to defeat the weakened truck. He stopped almost immediately after pulling off the exit ramp.

Meanwhile the sun has set, the sky is dark and there are absolutely no lights anywhere around. What do we decide to do? Offload my car right there, of course! There’s just enough room for a car coming off the exit to notice the truck and pull around it. Barely. If all the drivers are alert. It gets even tighter when the driver pulls the ramps down so he can back the cars off the truck. Fortunately, my uncle is prepared. He has a flare in his car. None of us had actually had the pleasure of using a flare before, so this was a first. He lights it up and places it on the ramp so people won’t hit us. Good move.

Did I mention that there are three cars on the truck and mine is the one all the way in? No? Well, that’s the case. So I stand with a flashlight in hand and point it at the bolts and straps and doodads as the bold driver unloads all three cars in the dark of night. He at least had one of those reflective vests. That was good. But I did not envy him in the least. It took about 20 minutes and all the cars were off. There was a conveniently placed Park-And-Ride area about 300 yards away, so he pulled the other 2 cars in there, pulled his truck up and out of the way, and that was it for him. He settled in for the night with a hope of help in the morning. And for me, the trial was finally over. At around 10 pm last night my car was safely in my hands.

I’ve been really enjoying driving it around today. It’s way more fun than that rental car. And maybe, just maybe, all that was worth it. You know, I think it was.

UPDATE: I forgot one minor good thing. When I handed my car over I had to, of course, give them a car key. I pulled it off my key chain and handed it over. But when I got my car back my key was on a keychain! Oh and not only a keychain, this thing had a small swiss army knife on it! The upside is that I got me a free knife. And everyone can use more knives!