Quick Nuggets
As I sit in a Memphis hotel room after another eventful day. I am just going to touch on the highlights.
On top of the on again/ off again fan issue, the tailpipe on the van was starting to fall off. It was rusted through where the clamp is located. As a result it was starting to hang down very low. My first attempt to fix it involved buying a roll of aluminum tape at a local Wal-Mart. As I was out in the parking lot laying down by the rear of the van trying to wrap the tape around the pipe I saw a car driving by me very slowly out of my peripheral vision. The car then stopped.
The driver, a younger black guy yells out to me “Hey, what kind of tape is that?” I was a bit dumbfounded by the conversation but told him it was aluminum tape. “Oh, can I have some?” By this time I was standing up. As I walked over to the full size car I noticed there were two other young black guys in the car. “Sure, what do you need it for?” He points to the B frame of vehicle where there was some shiny but weathered chrome looking tape. “Oh ok” I said, “how much do you need?” “How about 4 pieces?” he replies. I was still sort of amazed that I was being solicited for some of my metallic tape but ok, I’m a good Samaritan.
I tear off pieces of the tape as I tell him I am making them longer than he needs so he can cut it to size. “Oh ok, cool, cool” the guy says. After I get done tearing off the four pieces of tape he asks me how much I want for them? “Nothing man, no big deal” “Thanks man!” the guy replies as he drives off happy that he scored some free tape. Wow, that was weird.
Weird moment number two. After metallic tape and picture hanging wire I bought from Publix failed to hold the tailpipe in place I made yet another stop at an Auto Zone around Birmingham. It was obviously not a very good area but I didn’t care. I found a strap specifically designed to secure exhaust pipes and was again on my back working on attaching it to the pipe. Ali had walked down the sidewalk with the two dogs while I was working to see if they had to go to the bathroom.
Well again I hear a voice, again it is a younger black guy. This time I have a real hard time understanding him. He had a hard core ebonics dialect. He said something about seeing my girlfriend with the dogs down the sidewalk. Then he offered to help me with my repair. Ali returned shortly after this second wacky encounter started. He said he could hold the pipe while I worked on it. As he reached for it I told him it was hot yet and he shouldn’t touch it. He was just hanging around then talking and talking. I could only make it out every other sentence or two.
What I got from the conversation was he had a pitbull but he can’t afford to keep it. He said it doesn’t like to fight but likes to play instead. He lives right down the street in some rundown blue house. Oh and he asked me for 50 cents. I hurried up to finish my repair to get out of the conversation. As I was walking to the trash can one of the employees of the store came out and yelled down at the guy telling him to leave. Evidently this guy regularly solicits customers on the parking lot. I gave the guy a couple bucks anyway. Away he went after thanking me.
After all of the efforts to save the tailpipe we later discovered it missing as we approached the Tennessee border. All that remained was the empty strap.
The plan is to hit a local Midas when they open tomorrow to see if I can get a pipe thrown on it.