Bad start, happy ending

I slept horribly all night for a variety of reasons.  Worrying about the van, restless dogs and a much too quiet room all contributed.

I was up at 6am even though the service department didn’t open until 8.  The anxiety of not knowing what was wrong was weighing heavy on me.  I did some research on the web that pointed to many possible causes.

I waited outside the dealership patiently until the CSR let me in around 10 till 8.  They pulled the van in shortly after that.  The mechanic on duty was the same guy I saw the day before, the same one that seemed about as disinterested as humanly possible in my problem.

I had to sign a form ok’ing an $80 diagnostic charge.  Well the diagnostic took all of 5 minutes.  The mechanic said the tire was splitting along the inside tread, causing the weird wobble.  He said all I needed was a new tire.  The only problem was the dealership was unable to have tires delivered to them on a Saturday.  They directed me to a tire place about a mile down the road that was open on Saturdays.

I was surprised when they said that was it, no charge, I was free to go.  I thanked both the mechanic and the service advisor guy for their help and kindness.  Hutchinson Chevrolet in Macon, Georgia is A-OK in my book.

So I wobbled slowly down the road to this tire place.  Originally I had intentions of just replacing the two front tires.  After some more thought and conversations with Ali and my dad, I decided to just do all four tires.  The back tires weren’t in great shape either.  They both had slow leaks and some signs of dry rot.

The tires I was buying weren’t on the premise, they had to be delivered from their supplier.  I was told the whole deal should be done by 10:30. (It was around 9:00 am)  Instead of walking back to the room and then having to walk right back shortly thereafter I decided to just hang out and wait.

At first I passed the time by walking across the street and grabbing a DD coffee.  After getting back I read magazines, farted around on my Iphone and watched the same 10 news stories on the tv over and over and over again.

After 10 the guy at the counter tells me there is a problem.  The tires we ordered 4 of they only had three on hand.  There was another model tire we could go with but it would delay the delivery until about 11:30.  Well what choice did I have, I told him I would wait.

Well 11:30 turned into 12:15 until the tire delivery actually showed up.  I was crawling out of my skin by this point, having exhausted every last shred of patience.  To his credit, the guy behind the counter was very good at addressing my stress.  He made several calls to check on the tires eta and had his mechanics take the old tires off the van ahead of time so it was all ready to go.

I wasn’t the only one dying of boredom.  Ali was borderline insane back at the room just waiting for me.  She was going through ice tea withdrawl symptoms as well.  Originally I had told her I would bring her back a DD iced tea when the ETA was 10:30.  At 12:30 it is typically too late for her to ingest caffeine.

Finally the van was done around 12:40 or so.  I hurried back to the room, loaded up the van and off we went.  Originally we had plans to see the guidestones of Georgia.  That got scuttled due to the late departure.  Hopefully we can readjust our timetable/route on the way home to possibly see them then.

Instead we headed right to Chattanooga to meet up with my dad who is traveling with a friend of his to Montana.  Originally we planned to meet up for dinner.  However they were staying with friends of his friend that had no interest in eating outside to accomodate dogs.  So they did their own dinner thing and we did ours.

Boy did dad miss out.  Ali found a fantastic place for us to eat using an app on her Iphone that identifies nearby dog friendly establishments.  The place it found was called the Terminal Brewhouse.   

The restaurant is a refurbished old building in downtown Chatanooga.  It’s a micro-brewery that also happens to be very friendly to vegetarians, dogs and the environment.  It was like Ali was in nirvana.  We ate outside on the rooftop covered patio that had a grass covered floor and was bordered by planters filled with tomato, strawberry, and basil plants and more.  It was just great. 

I called my dad to offer him one more chance to meet up with us.  He would have LOVED this place.  He felt obligated to hang with his buddy.  Oh well, his loss.

Ali and I loved the surroundings, the staff and the food.  All of it was just about perfect.

The day which started out pretty damn bleak wound up pretty damn nice.  Who doesn’t like a happy ending?