The good and the bad - Day 878 (Yr 3, Day 145)

Raleigh, NC

Work was pretty light yesterday, so our purpose was to shop at an RV supply place.  There were a few items we needed:  replace captain's chair that's being held together with duct tape, see if we could find a plastic cover for our light fixture (no), buy a new water pressure regulator, and buy new outdoor step covers since ours were torn.  We really don't like Camping World, and we found another place in Raleigh that sold supplies.  Unfortunately, they were very small and had limited inventory, so we landed up also going to CW anyway.  We returned around 2, I worked for a little while, and then we headed out to meet Jessica at 5.

Before going out to dinner, she brought us over to their friends' house (Shannon & Jason).  They recently purchased a top of the line VR (virtual reality) system and wanted to us to experience it.  It was really awesome, and words really can't capture what it was like.  If you ever have a chance to experience VR - definitely try it!  We then all went out to dinner at BJs brewery where I had a portobello burger (yum).  Very nice evening.

Now for the bad... I had a lull in my workload this morning.  We desperately need to go shopping, so we decided to head out and get it done early.  I wanted to go to Trader Joe's, as it's the only place around where I can buy kosher meat and I wanted to make chicken for Shabbat.  We get in the truck and it wouldn't start!  It sounded like it was trying to turn over, so we didn't think it was a battery issue.  We called roadside assistance and told them to send someone for a jump or a tow if that didn't work.  Two hours later (11:30) someone finally showed up. As expected, the jump didn't work.  The mechanic thought it had something to do with the fuel system (which is what we just spent over $5K to have repaired back up in North Dakota.  Fortunately, they used Ford parts and told us if anything went wrong, we should bring it to a Ford dealer, have them call and it was all under warranty).

Naturally, even though we explained the type of tow truck we needed, they still sent the wrong one.  We were told they would return with the right equipment in 1/2 hour.  It's now 12:45 - almost an hour later and we're still waiting.

The unknowns at this point is whether they can work on it today, and if so, if they have parts in stock.  And if not, how do we get around to do our shopping and go to shul on Saturday?  We can't afford to rent a car because our auto policy is not standard - it's more like a homeowner's policy so it does not cover rental cars, which means having to pay the extra $25-30/day for that coverage.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that if it comes to that, perhaps they will give us a loaner car for a few days.

Never a dull moment.  I just have to keep reminding myself that things break down in regular cars and homes so even if we gave this all up, we'd still have things that need fixing.

UPDATE:

What a long, horrible day!!!  One comedy of errors after another.  Finally, at 1:30, the 2nd tow truck arrived.  As he was hooking up our truck to his, something on his truck broke, rendering it out of service.  He said he would have another (3rd) truck sent within the 1/2 hour.  An hour 15 mins. later, we called for an eta and were informed that they didn't have another truck available.  Gee, it would have been nice if they let us or the roadside assistance company know so they could call another company!!!  So, starting from scratch at 2:30, we finally got another company here at 4:00 (remember, we started this at 9:30 this morning).  We did not ride with them, as there would have been no way to get back (the Ford dealer only runs their shuttle until 3:30).  But we left notes and they will pick us (actually, just Mitch) up in the morning.  The next glitch is that the place they were going to tow us didn't even exist!!!  It was an address to a company that went out of business 20 years ago, not to the Ford dealer we needed.

You know I always count my blessings and look for the silver lining, which there was lots of.  For one, it was a gorgeous day - blue skies and in the high 60s.  Next, we are in a very nice place, have family nearby and are not stranded in the middle of nowhere (like we were in Peoria).  Third, if this is indeed a fuel line issue, it should be covered under warranty.  Lastly, we can choose to take a taxi or Uber to the local supermarket, but we have all the right ingredients and supplies to make a nice Shabbat dinner tomorrow -- nothing so critical on our shopping list that we absolutely have to go out tonight.  On the downside is that if we don't have the truck back by the end of tomorrow (which depends on whether they need to order parts or not), we won't be able to go to shul on Saturday which is a big let down since that has been our home away from home for the last 5 years, and the rabbi will be away the following week.  Who knows, perhaps we'll still be here the week after.