by Donna Swagerty Shreve
Our annual trip to Ashland started out with great promise. I was driving this year and I started my picking up of the girls in Stockton. We all pack small suitcases to allow room in the trunk for our shopping items. We had an early start as I like to allow for a cushion in case anything happens.
Mary Lou was waiting for us at the Sacramento gas station asking when we arrived for our last pick up. The trunk was now full with four suitcases and axillary cases. Somehow we will figure out a way to find room for our shopping exploits. Getting out of the airport and on to I-5 is always a challenge and I was on an out of the way path. Finally I was able to merge onto I-5 and head to Williams where we make our first stop at Granzella’s for lunch.
As I merged onto the freeway I was sandwiched between several trucks. There was a truck to my left and one in front and behind me. I was the filling for a truck sandwich. Suddenly there is a loud noise and my left front tire indicator is showing the tire going from 35 pounds to 0. There was just enough shoulder left for me to pull off right before three lanes became two lanes. Opening the doors on the left became risking as traffic is rushing along side us. I got out my cell phone and called AAA. I explained my situation and was told a driver would be there shortly. MY AAA apt then showed me where my driver was as he headed toward us.
Half an hour later Taylor drove up in a flat bed truck. I did have a spare tire which is only temporary so a new tire was in order. Taylor got the car onto his flat bed and drove us to the nearest American Tires Company as we have an account. It was 7.4 miles away but 9 miles along a river road to West Sacramento. Taylor apologized but the four of us elderly ladies would need to climb up several steps to get into his truck. Three sat in the back seat and I sat up front with Taylor. Taylor was not the first that day to try to soften the situation for the elders.
Once at American Tires I set up a new tire. The young kid came out to the car and used some computer hand held devise to examine each tire. The two rear tires had good ratings but the other front tire had low tread according to the machine. Would I like to have two new front tires? Sure. Just get us back on the road. I tried not to think about being sold some upgrades that maybe were not the best use of my money. One hour and a half and over $500 later we head back out on our trip a bit behind schedule. Fortunately we were able to grab some lunch while we waited.
The trip seemed different this time as we did not do our usual routine and our travel time was off. We are such creatures of habit. Potty breaks dictated small stops and we tried to find a McDonalds as they can be relied on to have clean bathrooms. With four older women in a car, no one had to suffer too long without a break.
We arrived to our destination and dinner was ready. I had called ahead to warn our host that we were off schedule. As we were going to rush through dinner, we all agreed that it would be best to miss our evening performance which just happened to run more than three hours. None of us were up to a long evening and three of us had seen the musical twice. The fourth woman was more than willing to miss the production. We could now enjoy our meal and spend a pleasant time chatting with our hosts who we have gotten to know over the three previous years. We finally crawled off to bed before that play would even be over.
Wednesday morning we were greeted with a huge breakfast to start us off on our day. Deb out does herself with special homemade goodies each year. We headed out to improve the economy of Ashland.
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