Well, it finally happened.
So many of you have remarked your surprise (or other terms) that my car has been toting me around to countless sporting events and other places to the tune of 365,000 miles.
The old Vibe couldn’t get me to the airport last Saturday.
The engine gave out on the interstate, and I quietly drifted to the side of 465, only a couple miles from that airport and the next destination.
The engine didn’t go out with a bang or anything. It started to cough a little bit, and then the red battery light came on.
Now, I have lots of yellow lights that have glared at me from the dashboard for a long time, and the good folks at Wilson’s told me that yellow is caution and red is bad.
Well, that red battery light was bad.
I knew there was trouble, and thankfully I only had to get over one lane and then off the road to a shoulder. Fortune was with me that it was a Saturday morning, so traffic was lighter than normal.
I safely got the old jalopy off the busy trail, and there I sat.
My first call was to Emergency Travel, because I knew that there was not a chance of me finding a fast ride those last couple miles to catch my original flight.
For one, I had to call Wilson’s and have them send a tow truck from Crawfordsville to Indy. I knew that Uber would not stop on a busy road and pick me up and take me to the airport.
A funny aside — I did find out that Uber Eats WILL stop on a busy road and drop off food. I didn’t order any takeout, but I found out from another person that it has happened.
So there I was. Emergency Travel was great. There were several flights later in the day to Atlanta, so I got a standby ticket for the 2 pm and the 4 pm flights, and had a guaranteed seat on the 6:30 flight.
Wilson’s was busy, and they sent a truck and eventually the Vibe got a ride of it’s own back to town.
That still left me needing a lift those last couple miles.
Enter excellent friend Greg Simpson, who gave up watching most of the first half of the IU game last Saturday to drive all the way to the west side of Indy to get me those last couple miles to the airport. He will be first on my gift list this holiday season.
So I was finally at the airport with about six hours possibly to wait and that’s exactly what happened. There was not a seat on either of the early flights, but I did get a ride on then 6:30. There was a plus there in that I have spent so many hours sitting in airports I know to take plenty of work and a book. I also got to see some of that IU game, plus others, and had my Jackrabbits on the radio via my phone.
And everyone lost last week!
Purdue on Friday night, the Hoosiers, Notre Dame and all those ranked teams on Saturday. Wabash lost a tough one on the road and my Jacks, who were No. 1 in the nation in their division, also lost.
And then there were the Colts on Sunday.
Well, I got to Atlanta late but okay, and we had the Bears play well for three quarters and win. They also played well off and on Thursday night to win again. And one other note — the stadium was at least half-full of Bears fans. The Atlanta airport Sunday night was covered with Bears shirts and hats (and a few Mike Ditka fake mustaches.)
I got home on the original flight, and Uber was able to get me back to C’ville. My driver was a great guy, but what a chatterbox. He is an immigrant from Nigeria who has built a business, and has made a great life for himself and his family. He drove in Bloomington all day Saturday for the big game, and “I made so much money.”
His daughter is a grad student at IU and doing very well. He never stopped talking from the airport to my back yard, but he was fun to listen to.
So that gets me to this week. I’m renting a car and heading to Detroit. We have the Packers and Lions Sunday. We go back to Detroit next weekend when the Lions play the Vikings so no airline activity for a couple weekends.
Oh yes, my car.
Well, after some conversations with Mark Wilson, he thinks we can get the Vibe to 400,000 miles, but first we have to put a new engine in.
So I’ll have the Vibe back on the road soon, but with a transplanted heart.
One last thanks, to my landlady Rita Nicholas, who graciously let me use her car off and on for errands this week.
A hello to the many visitors in town this weekend for Ironman. Have a great weekend.
For all the rest of us — safe travels.
Jeff Nelson is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review and works professionally for Fox Sports working with the Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Colts and many more professional teams.
