Yoo 337 - It Happened In Oklahoma

It could have happened on a run to the grocery store. It could have happened parked in my driveway. Heck, it would have been quite convenient if it had happened at work.

But it didn't.

It happened in Moore, OK.

At a quick Chick-Fil-A lunch stop while the Gregabond and I were road-trippin' it up to Nebraska for the Smil's graduation this weekend.

The Caspercar's ignition lock cylinder jammed and the key wouldn't turn.

It'd been functioning almost flawlessly for over four months since that happened last!

Not quite knowing how to respond to the situation, I downed my chicken sandwich in disbelief. Strangely, that didn't solve the problem. So I mindlessly grabbed the Gregdude's chicken sandwich and downed that too, heavily slathered in BBQ sauce.

He kept fiddling with the key until he noticed his sandwich. Or lack thereof. Then I got to fiddle with the key while he went back in for another chicken sandwich.

Fruitless fiddling, it was.

"I want to kick it."

"Don't kick it. You'll break something else."

"But it's broken, it needs to be kicked."

Sound rationalization.

It was at this point I gave into the inevitable and called USAA. Every time I call I'm reminded why I love them. The nice lady commiserated with my woeful situation and the tow truck was there 35 minutes later. The driver had just moved back from New Zealand so the Gregmissionary and him had a grand old time talking Kiwi while the Caspercar got owned.

Then there was the dealership.

4 hours at the dealership.

I was quite the camper for 3.5 of those hours, too. I happily logged into work with my best "life is an adventure!" attitude and passed the afternoon away. The Gregconsumer researched new cars I could buy. His recommendation? The Toyota Highlander Hybrid. And "it's only 40 grand!".

Riiight.

It was 2 hours and 45 minutes after they'd told me that it'd only be 45 more minutes that my patience started wearing a bit thin.

But I kept it contained to audible mumblings to the Gregman!

(it should be noted, he gave me a B overall for my handling of the situation. no yelling and ranting! a markedly drastic improvement from my stolen iphone situation in february....)

The Chevy people finally had the Caspercar all fixed and ready to go a few minutes after closing, and they even let me talk them way down in price!

That's the good news. Want to hear the worst part of the day?? As we were driving off, we discovered this:

We could have been wasting those 4 hours at Chuck-E-Cheese people! Talk about a missed opportunity!!

We lamented and gnashed our teeth as we merged into Oklahoma City rush hour traffic.

And this.

Thankfully the rest of the drive was scenic and uneventful. And we got to the Nebraska home just before 1am. To a rousing welcoming committee, of course.

Everyone was asleep.

But I'm not bitter...

Have a great day :-)