...and we're off...

What a day!!! To say the least.

The day started off with me picking up a surprise bunch of baked goods from tartine bakery and then off to J's. We actually were on time for a change, however the weather was horrendous. Down pouring rain coming out of the skies and a car that definitely has some leakage spots to say the least which we found out later when most things were wet.

Highway 1 was beautiful to drive down, even in the rain. Actually, the rain added some natural beauty to some parts of the ride. However, around Gorda California we hit a small rock that punctured the left rear tire and caused us to have to pull over to the local gas station/restaurant. We were able to call a tow truck for help here, and 3 hours later they arrived to help.

So for 3 hours on our first day of the road trip we were stranded, but it wasn't so bad. J really made the most of it. She let me win at chess, chased feral cats, and kept comforting me about the bad luck.

When the tow driver finally did arrive it was clear we needed a tow as far as we could, our spare had already been used and probably would not have gotten us to the next local tire spot. Of course, we had no mobile phone service so we wouldn't know what stores had our type of tire in stock. eventually, an hour into the tow we got reception and through the power of the iPhone i was able to track a store down that had our tire and was open till 6, we could possibly make.

We arrived there, on our spare, at 5:52. At first they didn't want to help us out as it was a holiday and would require OT, but through some pleading and pleasantry Able, the kind manager there, gave the ok and we got a new tire. woo hoo!!

we decided to stop for some local sushi and then get back on the road. the original plan was to do dinner with ariel, josh and biko however with this new time delay there was no way to make that. If lucky we could see them for 20min, and we were in serious need to as ariel was our place to stay for the night.

We made great time, however about 20min before arriving at josh's we got pulled over. A ticket, or something of the sort. Pleading was no use. He said i was going much faster than I was, and I didn't beleive it and tried to argue but no luck. I was instructed that I could appeal online and it may get over turned, most do he said.

Arrived at 10:45 to josh's, saw the crew for about 5 min and then they went to bed and we got the key to ariels, where i am now writing from. Ready for bed and a fun day of driving to albuquerque, which should only be about 12 hours of driving :) oh how fun!

and now to sleep