Nothing ever goes as planned

Let's see, where to start?

I left after work on Friday night, and got to Waco just a little before 9:00. We went to Ninfas and had Mexican food for dinner, yummy. We made it kind of an early night because we planned to go to Salado on Saturday.

It rained rather a lot Friday night, and we woke up Saturday to more rain and nasty cold. Not freezing, but not much above it. But we decided to go anyway - Brian said, "Hey, it'll be an adventure!" Little did we know. So off we went, hoping the rain would let up as we went south.

No such luck. It rained. And rained a lot. And rained a little. And kept on raining. But we figured that the shops wouldn't be crowded, so that might be nice. As we were passing through Belton, we heard this horrible squealing sound as we passed another car. We commented that we wondered if it was the other car, and the sound stopped as we passed, so we thought maybe it was. Then the parking brake light and battery light came on on Brian's car. We stopped and he looked under the hood - he didn't see anything glaringly wrong, so we first stopped at an auto parts store, to see if maybe they could take a look at it. At this point, it was probably between 11:15 and 11:30 on a Saturday. Of course the auto parts guys didn't want to get out in the rain and look at the car, so they suggested we take it to the Kia dealership. There was one in Killeen that was closer than driving back to Waco, and since the battery light had come on, I was concerned it might be an electrical system problem and we might not make it back to Waco.

So I called the dealership in Killeen, to see if we could bring the car in and get a rental or loaner car to get back to Waco. I was told their service department wasn't open on Saturday, so we couldn't leave the car OR get another to get home! The woman I spoke to did give me the number for Kia roadside assistance, and I told her we were so close to the dealership that we'd probably end up just pulling into their parking lot to wait.

I called roadside assistance and got a tow truck lined up, and as we were driving, we noticed that the car was dinging like the emergency brake was on (it wasn't) and the windshield wipers were getting noticeably slower. As we got close to the dealership, the wipers were so slow that Brian just turned them off. More of the warning lights came on, and the van was losing power. We made it to the dealership, though, and saw an Enterprise auto rental place next door. Cool, we thought, we'll rent a car, no problem. So we sloshed over there in the rain, only to find out they were CLOSED on Saturdays!

We went in at the dealership and borrowed a phone book to try to find a rental car place that was open - Advantage was open out at the Killeen airport, and they were going to come pick us up and bring us back out there when the second person working there got back. The tow truck came and took the van to the Kia dealership in Waco, and we waited on the rental car. And waited. And waited. The people at the dealership were real nice, got us something to eat and drink, and tried to sell us a car. LOL I guess it was getting close to 2:00 when the rental car place called back to let us know the guy was on his way to get us, and probably after 3:00 by the time we got out there, rented the car, and went on home. We were a bit iffy about the car for a minute, as Brian forgot his insurance card in the van. They were able to call and verify my insurance, though, so that worked out OK.

We drove back to Waco, ran by the Kia dealership to drop off the key to the van, and went to dinner at TGI Friday's. We both decided adult beverages were in order after the car ordeal. Then we went to see Dreamgirls, which was a really entertaining little movie. We had to run by Wal-Mart for a couple of things, and then we went home. Cold weather is good for snuggles. :-)

This morning we played hooky from church, because it was stinkin' cold and who wants to get out of a warm bed when it's cold and wet outside? K called several times, though, to let me know the weather was getting bad up this way and I might want to head on back. So I left Waco about 11:00 and was home by 12:45.

Brian has had a rough week, though. He and a co-worker are on the outs over the latest exhibit and over her apparently stepping in and planning programs (Brian's department) without consulting him in the least. His back yard is soggy, not only from the rain, but from what's apparently a leaky pipe under his house. (Fortunately, his landlord will pay for that.) And then the van went kerflooey on Saturday. My poor baby. Hopefully whatever is wrong with the van will either be under warranty or will be really small (like the battery needing to be replaced).

But he and I had a good time, the van ordeal notwithstanding. We'll make it to Salado some other time.