Starting where we left off, we managed to get the car to the hotel via car trailer and an expensive tow, I had what I needed to get the seat removed to replace the battery and Im tucking in for what would be a restless night in a hotel room.
Up early the next morning as I'm getting dressed Krystal calls to verify arrival of the alternator for the Audi. After a few minutes on hold they let her know it has arrived. I head downstairs to find the car covered in frost, it was a cool 27 degrees. Getting to work right away within 30 minutes I have the old battery out and the new battery in. I'm feeling pretty good when the car starts and I only have one notification for the TPMS system. I lived most my life not knowing how much air was in the tires, Ill survive... I call an Uber to get across town to the parts store where my remanufactured alternator awaits.
I walk in and let then know I was the guy that ordered the alternator out of OKC last night to which they replied, oh yes, it was an Infinity right? If you can imagine the look on my face. I was able to get a tow, get the tools, get the battery in, and arrive at the parts store to get the alternator that was available overnight and was almost starting to believe I might make it out of this situation. Up to this point I was starting to feel like the guy with the basketball on a breakaway dribble down court with nothing left to do but skillfully perform that layup I had done many times before, and now this guy is telling me he got the alternator for my Infinity. Oh Boy.... he grabs the alternator, pulls up the invoice and says "My bad, it says its for an Audi, $455 right?...." ya, that's the one. On a side note, based on the price I was looking forward to seeing what an alternator made out of rare unicorn foreskins would look like. I am sorry to say it looked like a regular alternator in a normal cardboard box that induced the same feelings of despair that any other alternator would. Disappointed and delighted in the same breath, I grab the box and head out of the store. Call another Uber and within 15 minutes or so I'm back under the hood of my beloved Audi.
It looked pretty simple. Pull the engine cover, pull the serpentine belt, take the 2 connectors off the back, and then remove the 2 long bolts that hold the alternator to the engine assembly. Perform these steps in order, out comes the alternator and Bobs your Uncle. It went well up until the out comes the alternator part. By this time it was about 1030am and we had an 11am checkout. I was up against the gun. I had struggled for about 20 minutes maybe 30.... I don't know, it could have been 2 hours. There is a strange time warp that occurs under the hood of a car. Tools disappear, one beer sometimes magically turns into seven, and sometimes you remove 4 bolts replace 4 bolts and still have have 4 bolts left over. Anyway, I was running out of time. Fortunately the hotel gave us another 2 hours for me to get my stuff together and get this car fixed. I ended up needing to remove the motor mount bolt on the passenger side and use a jack to lift that side off the motor up enough to fit the alternator between the engine and the cars body. It was still tight but I was able to get it out of there. Based on my emotions at this instant you would think I just watched my child come out of there and the doctor was telling it its an alternator. This was the turning point to what had been a very stressful, emotionally taxing, physically strenuous 24 hours. I do a quick comparison of the 2 alternators, confirm we have a match, and start putting it back together.
I'm almost to the step where I would be putting the serpentine belt back on when I am approached by a homeless women asking me if I could help with any money or food. I put this in its own paragraph because it ended up being a very impressionable moment for me. I was faced with a similar situation the day before where I was asking for help. I was hoping for kindness and compassion from a total stranger. All political and social issues and stances aside, this lady was a person that breathes and feels the same as I do, they deserve the same level of kindness I would ask for in the same or similar situations. Now this parallel is not totally congruent in scale and necessity could be argued either way, but in a moment which I would refer to as "not my finest moment" I looked this lady in the face and said "What makes you think I'm in a position to help you when I can't even help myself". She didn't say a word, turned around, and walked off. Truthfully speaking, I may have had some food in the car but I had no money on me. I did have something I could offer though, I had at least food. I was in such a poor headspace at the time and still feel bad about this as I type. Even if I had nothing to give, I could have at least been kind. If Ryan yesterday had treated me the way I treated this lady it would have completely changed the trajectory of my last 24 hours. When I look back on it, I was actually doing a pretty damn good job helping myself, but I was too emotionally beat up to realize it. I'm sure I have had interactions like this with my wife and my kids, so I am going to do the only thing I can do in this circumstance and learn from it. Thanks for letting me get that out there, I feel better having said it.
Alright, back to the car, I finish getting the belt on, engine cover on, engine started. Everything is back to normal, and I have about 30 minutes to spare until we are paying for another night or checking out. I get a quick shower, we load the car up and get out just under the wire. The next destination of course is Dallas. We stop about 50 miles out of Amarillo for diesel, while I fill the car the family goes into the store to use the restroom. I come in and realize we might be the only people with a face mask. I don't want to get into the debate on that, but I just want to say its been so long that Ive had to wear one now it seems strange to see people not wearing one. I cant wait until this is no longer the case.
Dallas is 5 hours from Amarillo, most of the drive is flat. Lots of windmills. You will also pass lots of cotton fields. We stopped off and Lance was able to grab a small tuft, wet and full of seeds, but we dried it out on the dash and then we had conversation about the importance of cotton both culturally and agriculturally. That crop in itself had an impact on this nation. I may have said this before, but there is something special about this "distance learning". How better to discuss our nations history, economics, civil rights, etc than learning while touching a piece of it with your bare hands. Seeing the plant the cotton grows on, seeing the impurities, the mud in the field, imagining the working conditions to sow, grow, harvest, and process this plant. It is quite powerful. We passed many empty abandoned farm houses. We talked about the likely reason why this was and what it means for the local community. I would imagine a person would be hard pressed to see this content in a school text book. I can tell you it wasn't in my text books as a kid.
The remaining hours of this drive were uneventful, thank goodness. I had enough for one weekend. We pulled into the outskirts of Dallas with the sun beginning to set. The buildings were reflecting the most beautiful sunset Id seen in awhile. While traffic was a little crazy as we got closer to the center of Dallas, I was still thankful to be there. If you had asked me 24 hours prior if I thought I be in Dallas the next night, Id probably have said, "Hand me another beer and stop asking, Ive had a rough day, and this beds uncomfortable, why do I only have 2 pillows, who has the phone charger...." or something like that, but it would likely not have been a confident yes, we will be in Dallas tomorrow night....
The following day was my birthday and I was looking forward to taking a day off to relax. We ended up going to Waco to see the Magnolia Farms Silos in Downtown Waco. I had an incredible sandwich and a great day with my kid and wife. We got back home to the house and found that we were locked out. We sat outside for the better part of an hour with a bunch of groceries we had just purchased in preparation for our week in Dallas. The AirBnB host got us taken care of though and bought us somewhere around 15 tacos to make up for the whole mess and even bought me some mini cupcakes for my birthday.
This Saturday we leave for OKC, OK. Its about 3.5 hours north. The weather is supposed to be in the ones, as in 9 degrees for the high and -5 for the low. Never been in such cold weather. We might even see some snow. I'm quite looking forward to it.
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