Well our worst fears came true, yesterday afternoon Leiha's car broke down just a little past the Wyoming/Nebraska border. She has spent most of last night and all of today in beautiful Kimball Nebraska. Don't you all worry, she is fine, just a little irritated and taking things as they come.
You know it wouldn't be Leiha unless there was a good story...
So yesterday afternoon (around 3:30 pacific time) Leiha's car was going slow but she didn't think to much about it until she heard noise coming from under the hood. She pulled over and as she reached the side of the road the car quit running. At this point in the story I screeched "OH MY GOD - Was there a town nearby" But no there were not towns around. Being the resourceful gal she is Leiha called 411 to find the name of a tow truck company. The operator asked her where she was and all Leiha could say was "I don't know" and the operator told her "Then I cant help you." Thank goodness Linda T had map quested the trip and printed all thirtysomething pages. Leiha picked the town that was the closest to the Wyoming border she had just passed, Kimball. The operator put her in touch with a nice tow truck man in Kimball.
You know that is not the end of the tow truck story. Now he wanted to know where she was and Leiha's answer was (yes, you guessed it) "I don't know". He helpfully asked, what is around you? Leiha gave him a grand description of the area, "fields". Then he asked what was to the north and Leiha answered "fields". Then he asked if there were any identifying markers anywhere around and there was a sign about a half mile up Leiha couldn't read. Off went Leiha, to see what the sign said, when the man asked if she was jogging. Turns out he was late for an appointment but was waiting to find out where she was before he left. So picture this: Leiha was jogging down the side of interstate 80 in the middle of Nebraska in her pajamas (her favorite road trip clothing) trying to read a sign a half mile down the road. A couple of nice guys pulled over to offer help, but they didn't know much about cars so they couldn't help that way. They offered her a ride or some water but all Leiha wanted to know is "Where am I?" The nights in shining armor (Ok - I don't know if the car was shiny or not, I forgot to ask) went on the way while our damsel in distress went back to her truck to wait for the patient tow truck driver. Leiha did finally see the sign by the way - and it is a good thing the guys found her before she read it because it was an add for something in a town 50 miles away!
By the time they got the car pulled into town and Leiha checked in to the local motel it was after 5 and the shop was closed so she had to wait until today to get the diagnosis on the car. Poor Leiha, once she was checked into the hotel and started to get comfortable she realized she had left her book in the car. She also forgot her glasses so she had a JR Ward moment because she was wearing sunglasses inside. She said she had to watch TV with all the lights on. Of course because Leiha was a woman on a mission she had not stopped for lunch and the motel was by the interstate so there were no restaurants near enough to walk to so she missed dinner also. I asked her if she at least had road food with her and she said "I left my glasses and book in the car, do you really think I brought road food?" Point taken.
This morning they took the car to a shop for diagnosis. Lucky for Leiha the nice tow truck driver makes his own wine, she sampled a few and the choke cherry was her favorite. Remember how she hadn't had lunch or dinner the day before? Well she hadn't had breakfast either, so she was nice and mellow when the car guy told her the Honda was official dead. I think the technical description of what happened was that the motor was blown, but don't hold me to it. The car had over heated and had gotten so hot inside even the rubber in the engine had melted - there was no saving it.
Leiha hit the yellow pages and luckily found a rental car place in a town about 50 miles north that had one way rentals and would deliver the car! What luck! That was at around 1:30 pacific time. The car was delivered about 5:45 pacific time, Leiha transferred all the stuff from her car and is back on the road as I type this, about 6:15 pm. She is in high spirits and is looking forward to passing the next Flying J truckstop where she will take a break and use the wireless internet to check her email and check up to see if everything I put here is correct. (No pressure)
She said to tell everyone there was one great thing about today.... She won Emma Holly's contest (Emma swears it was not rigged even if they are BFF's) and will have her book waiting for her when she gets to Atlanta!!! See there is always a silver lining.
Any errors or misspelled words are all my fault and should no way reflect on the owner of this blog,
Leiha's Nancy :)
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7 Mannions Speak :
Holy Crap, Batman! Our Leiha jogging a half-mile in her pajamas in the fields of Nebraska? Waylaid by two knights in shining armor who weren't that helpful? Stuck without FOOD or DRINKS at a motel? And without glasses or books to read? Wait...a dead Honda? Whoever heard of a dead Honda?
(((LEIHA!!!))) So what will happen to the dead Honda? Did you just bury it in NE?
All in all, you're doing one fine job of one-upping my Lost-ID story at the Atlanta airport, luv.
Be safe, my friend, and wear a low neck nightie the next time ;-).
Wow honey. I guess you have to have some adventures on your cross country excursion. Not that you need to add any more good stories to your resume, however. I hope the rest of the trip is totally uneventful.
P.S. I think I might have cried if I didn't have my book, glasses and snacks. You brave, brave girl.
Oh girl this makes this mama just sick to her stomach thinking about the panic you went thru! Whenever something happens to my car I break into tears b/c I know NOTHING about cars (except to put gas in them to make them go) and feel so helpless when they act up.
You know if you had known the damn thing was going to break down then you could of just flown to Atlanta--where are crystal balls when we need them!
Hey I thought the silver lining was the free samples of wine--which was very smart of the guy to mellow her out before he delivered the bad news!! I guess seeing a sweaty (from jogging) Asian chick in her pj's that can't figure out where she is convinced him that w/out the wine she might show more of her "unique" personal! snort!
I'll give you a call today and check on you--can't have this mama worrying!
PS Nanner you did a FAB job & btw Leiha mis-spells all the time according to LindaT so don't sweat it if you do! In fact it will be more authentic if you do mis-spell words here and there! "-)
Good Morning faithful Leiha bloggers! I'm checking in with y'all (pretty soon Georgia Peach Miz. Leiha will be talkin' that way *grins*) The Night Rider Leiha San Diego called me last night & she wanted me to post an update. It was around 11PM and she was on the road in her rental car cruising thru Fort Kearny, NE in the pouring rain--of which I could hear as it was really coming down hard. I forgot to ask if she was in her jamies (shoot!) but the Mama in me worries about night driving and all so I was being a nudge and encouraging her to find a hotel and try to get some sleep--she stated she was not sleeping well in the hotels anyway so she was going to push to get to Lincoln, NE and get a hotel and hopefully get some snoozin in. I hate night driving by myself and was thinking of that scary arse movie "The hills have eyes" but thought, nope, not gonna mention that horror movie when she is driving and all by herself and then, leave it to Leiha, she mentions the movie and starts LOL while I am naturally freaking out and yelling at her to get off the highway and to that hotel! Actually, she reassured me it was a busy patch of road and well lighted and all. I am such a worrier when it comes to night driving probably cuz I can't see well at night myself & fret about stuff--(like your car breaking down!), etc., so I asked her if she was "packin" like the heroines in one of Tara Janzen's "Crazy" series. ;o) LOL, I know, I know, the mind boggles as the thought of our Leiha armed gives one definite pause...LOL, even tho she was in the Army and all...but I made her chuckle with that thought and she replied "Nope, the only thing I'm packing are my flip flops so if someone gets in my way I'll beat em with them!" LMAO
So the rain had stopped and she was heading on down the highway to Lincoln and to that hotel and hopefully some good rest and better yet some good food.
I swear my heart stopped when I read this blog today. I panicked and I wasn't even Leiha! I needed a drink too!
We know how flustered you were when you forgot your book and food. I hope you are eating today and find a comfortable hotel tonight.
You have to send us a map of where the Honda is buried. I sure every Rebel who passes through Kimball will want to stop to pay tribute. They might even use your technique to take self pictures standing on the hood of the deceased car.
I agree that you need a sexy nightie to drive in!
I am sure glad that the breakdown didn't happen at night! What a crappy place to be stuck in,though,and I KNOW I couldn't deal w/out a book OR some food to tide me over-good thing there was wine...*G* I have to agree w/Jenna on this though-when do you ever hear of a Honda dying? Crazy.I want to know where the self portrait of the jogging is,LOL .And what's with those midwestern boys not helping our Pucca more?I know why-they were probably anxious to get to the tractor dealership in Kearney.That's the big attraction there.It's about the only attraction in Kearney,though.*G*
I'd be stressed if we broke down like that,even though hubby is good w/cars.Hopefully she makes it the rest of the way w/no more problems!
Bo
Hi all! I don't have time to respond to everything personally (trying to beat rush hour) but you all make me feel so much better, it's either laugh or cry and I'm much happier with the laughing. The new car is great and I'm cruising. I did change into my pjs this morning but a different pair, don't want to jinx myself. Nancy tried to post a pick of where my car is buried last night, she'll try again tonight and we can all take a moment of silence (I agree aobut the Honda, they don't die, they are normally killed, LOL). No self portaits this trip, you all know how vain Nes is, I mean, I am. I look like poop and my cam is not working right. I guess I can try and take a pic with my cell phone and send it to Nancy, just ignore my dirty hair, LOL.
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