WHO NEEDS STARBUCKS

Trying to make my way home today. Left at 7:30a.m. for the three-hour drive to where my poor baby is stuck. Only one problem. Car's not fixed yet. Another couple hours they tell me. 


Not a problem, I'll go to Starbucks or some coffee shop and start season two of Mad Men. Only one problem. I forget I'm in Henderson, North Carolina. No Starbucks, no coffee shops at all actually. There's a Walmart, a Belk, a Dollar Store, a Cracker Barrel, a Waffle House, and a handful of fast-food restaurants.


Walmart, Belk and Dollar Store didn't seem so conducive to sitting for a couple hours and I'd feel guilty wasting a poor server's space at Waffle House or Cracker Barrel so out of McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, Taco Bell and Chick-fil-a, I decide my safest bet to find decent coffee is Chick-fil-a (how ironic.)


JACKPOT.

$1.28 for a small coffee (with free refills), all-I-can-drink free water, free wi-fi, a private booth with my feet up, sweet little old ladies working so hard that keep asking me if I need a refill yet and dropping off free mints, and christian radio on the loud speaker.


Hanging out in Chick-fil-a. Best decision ever.

23-HOUR DRIVE TO CHARLOTTE

Last week I decided to take a couple days off work and make a long-weekend trip down to North Carolina to the brother and sister-in-law's new house.


The plan: leave work around 3p.m. on thursday, drive 9ish hours to NC, stay through Sunday and drive back Monday morning. 


I should've known something was bound to happen when I had ruined my plan right off the bat by not leaving work until 4:30; but with a newly fixed car after my blown-up EGR valve 10 days ago, snacks, caffeine, Pam, and a fully-loaded ipod I was ready to go and could foresee only a smooth trip in my future.


I was wrong.


My trusty car made it a good 7 hours when it decided to die again. The same dang EGR valve busted for the second time in 2 weeks at 12a.m. midnight, on the side of highway I-85, in the middle of Henderson, NC, 3 hours away from where I needed to be.


Freak out on the side of the road? Yes please, I think I will.


But God is good and my dad is the perfectly opposite and calming personality to my overreactive personality. He talked me through snailing(?) my way to the next exit to find a gas station which could then direct me to a hotel for the night. On my way to the hotel I passed a Ford dealership (score) and the sweet southern lady at the hotel gave me 50% off my room (double score)!


On friday I was able to get my car over to the dealership, get a rental for the weekend, and after 23 hours, finally arrived in Charlotte!


Now fingers crossed that the car is fixed once and for all by monday in time for me to pick it up on my way back home...

EG- WHAT??

This week has been crazy. My car died on Sunday.

By died I mean my EGR Valve (thank goodness for wikipedia) blew up...ON I-95.

A couple tow trucks, some good friends, a generous dad to lend me his car and a few mechanics later, she's OK now and running like new.

I'm hearing the busted valve may have been caused by a clog in the engine or faulty spark plugs or the catalytic converter...

But my professional opinion?

I think she's just mad at me for bringing her to such cold weather. She's a texas car, who can blame her really? She's not built for these freezing temperatures!

It's only Wednesday and I feel like it should be Saturday already!