I was finally on my way home, leaving Denver for 1800 miles over 3 days, when my car started having problems again – the steering wheel and car would violently shake, and it worried me. I pulled into a Sears Auto Center and wandered around the mall (and got a bad haircut) in Davenport, Iowa while they looked at my car.
My inner-tie rod was failing. If it actually broke, I wouldn’t be able to control my right wheel with the steering wheel. At 70 mph, that’s bad. But, the part I needed couldn’t get there for 3-5 business days, so I decided to try to limp home. 30 miles later, the shaking got even worse, and I felt I might loose control of the car. I pulled off the road and called Triple A for a tow.
I had a friend in Chicago, about 140 miles away, and tried to get towed there. Not surprisingly, no-one that AAA called would tow me that night, so I drove another 10 miles down the road in the shoulder of I-80, doing 15-20 miles an hour. I made it to Econo-Lodge, where I actually set up this domain name for the first time (disasters can often be fortuitous), and was able to get a tow for the next morning to a mechanic in Chicago only a few miles from my friend’s house.
I’ve been staying with Saqib and his mother, moderate Muslims from Pakistan. If you’ve never stayed with Muslims before, bring earplugs. They have an alarm clock they would say is from heaven (I might disagree). Five times a day, starting at 5:30 and then 7:00 AM, the alarm clock wails out the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer. It sounds beautiful when actually sung by a human, but not when blasted out of cheap speakers when you are trying to sleep.
What can I do, suggest they alter their communication with God because I want to sleep? While tempting, I’m not that inconsiderate. I might have surreptitiously lowered the volume on the speakers though . . .
It turns out my car will be another week, so the new plan is to drive home in a rental, and fly back and pick up the car next weekend before driving home (again). I’m becoming a regular visitor to Chicago!
