Dear Locker #19

Santa Exploded

If you had dreams of desk decorating contest glory, I was happy to kill them in the name of christmas!

IN 24 Hours - Part 3 / aka: Bear necessities

Now I had lived in mammoth for five winters and stayed the last three years thru the summer too. I was a “local” I knew the do’s and don’t of mountain living pretty well

 I pulled up to Mel’s house.  I could not have been happier to see Mel again.

And like two 14 year old girls we talked till the weee hours of the morning.

 So there are a few things you should know before I move on with this part of the story.

#1. I didn’t have a car when I lived in mammoth. I walked, road the bus, or I went with the old standard.

#2.  I sleep like nobody’s business! I snore Loud and I don’t hear anything.
Any time, Any where, I am a non partisan napper

 (not kidding this actually happend)

So after talking all night we each went to our rooms and I woke up late as always.

I went up stairs and my cooler was in the kitchen. How sweet! Mel must have brought it inside for me so that it would be waiting for me. Mel laughed and said” No! Ron brought in your cooler after the next door neighbors dog woke us up barking up a storm last night. 

We looked out the window and saw two BEARS in your car!

Ron scared them away and brought your cooler in”
#1st Thought:
There goes making a good impression on Ron. I suppose any traces of mammoth local in me are totally gone now. I know better than to leave food In the car! But honestly it had been so long since I had to think about bears it slipped my mind.

#2nd Thought:
And now seemingly more important. “Did they break a window?” i asked.
 No, Mel replied “you lucked out they were smart and opened the door!”

 I must have left it unlocked too!
 I went down to the car and sure enough, there was trash everywhere, and little chocolate soy-protein powdered bear prints on the seats and all over my stuff, but they had not damaged the car at all.

 If that was how the first day of my road trip went I was not holding out much hope at that point that I would survive let alone make it to Texas.

In 24 hours - Part 2 / aka: I can sure pick'em

I pulled into Reno and set about the task of getting a replacement tire as my spare was a space saver and not going to last very long.

I pulled over at a Motel Six and used the phone book. Saw that there was a big O tire just a few blocks away. So since I had blown off the Big O tire guy in Boise I thought it best to give Big O my business in Reno.
Called mom for the exiting car convo and she chose this moment to point out that "When a tire salesman is trying to "doop" you into buying tires, he will try and sell you all four and not just three!"

I went and the only tires they had for my car were $80, a piece. I could not pay $80 a piece, so the man there said I should try a used tire place down the street. I remember distinctly somehow in the packing and repacking the trunk my bible that had been tucked away in the bottom of the trunk had now made its way to the front seat next to me. I prayed with it in my hands, told god ALL about the tires and how badly I needed three, that would JUST get me to Austin for under $200.

Then I opened the bible to a random page, and read a random passage that said basically the wicked will receive wickedness and to the righteous, righteousness.

Okay now, I know I am not wicked. Imperfect yes! but I do not intentionally hurt or cause harm. So I took that as a sign to drive to the nearest used tire place and get some righteously used tires.

 When I arrived there was a nice older man there, I can’t remember his name right now. I think It was Steve. He was covered in grease and a bright orange shirt he looked like the sort of man who probably had a major problem with Meth at some point in his life. But now he was clean and working at a used tire lot where no one cared how many teeth you had.  

  He looked at my tires told me what ones needed replaced and found me three "better"  tires.
Steve said they would last me through the winter and certainly well after I arrived in Austin.
"How much?" I asked. Steve's reply was the best thing to happen all day. All three tires for.....

I will have you know, I lived in Austin almost a year before I needed new tires again.
So It seemed I was not wicked after all. And as It turns out Dustin of Big O Boise is a Saint.

 
As I waited for Steve and his helper to do their thing, I repacked the spare and all my other things into a manageable arrangement once again. Then I pulled out my journal and wrote a little and chatted with a girl about my age also waiting for her tires to be changed.
 
She asked about all my things packed to the ceiling, and I told her about my 8 week plans and how the trip had been so far.
As we talked there was commotion across the street. She interrupted me

 

she motioned for me to follow her and we walked to the end of the lot. She pointed at the house on the adjacent corner. There were men standing oddly by the door yelling.

 

“it’s a drug bust!” she exclaimed. Sure enough I could see the men were standing one behind the other and all slightly to the left with both hands down and in front obviously holding guns.

 

Just like a bad TV show. One man was yelling at the door. She pointed to the side of the building at the unmarked police car, and the men at the back door of the building waiting for someone to flee. This Girl obviously knew more about drug busts than I did.

 

I was dumbfounded at my luck. How did I end up here? I take a wrong turn god know where, go thru the tire fiasco and some how pick the ONE used tire lot with a drug bust across the Street!

So I did what any person in my situation would do..................................... 

I ran and grabbed my camera! No one was going to believe that this day had turned out the way it did. I snapped a few photos. It looks like the Drug dealers were not home that day because we watched the cops leave empty handed.

Perhaps the show Reno 911 was named appropriately after all.

 

 

The girl left and Steve came and sat with me. We talked about the drug bust and he told me about how bad crime was on 4^th street. He had a tone of disappointment to his voice like he missed the old days.

Then he told me about the murder just a few days ago, at the building right NEXT door. And I got to thinking...................

 

 

So of the three buildings here, two had major events involving guns in the last 24hrs, and here I was standing on the Third. And......its starting to get dark out side.

 

 

As nice as Steve was I wanted to get moving again.
I was now far behind schedule and really not wanting to be in this neighbor long enough to find out what would happen next. About 15 min. later I was on my way once again to drive the last 170.03 Miles I had left for today.

THE PROOF

To be continued......................... in Part 3

In 24hrs- Part 1 / aka: When to Re-Tire?

After months of planning I quit my job in Boise Idaho and left on my big road trip through California on my way to Austin.

I couldn’t just move I had to squeeze as many things into one time as possible.
I didn’t see how I could afford to go to a new city, get a job, get a house, and then the next month leave to California for two major events......

#1. My very good friend Jamie was getting married, and I was to be a bride’s maid.

#2. My brother Tarl was turning 30, and having a major party to which many old friends I had not seen or would be seeing for years were attending.

So I felt it would be best to drive thru California for 8 weeks prior to arriving in Austin. So that all could be accomplished prior to my arrival. I think in all the trip I had planed was around 3, 000 miles in a 1994 Mercury Sable.

I had never taken a solo road trip like this before. I was very excited, to say the least. I mapped everything out over and over. I called everyone I knew along the way and made couch reservations, and lunch appointments.

My friends in Boise all pitched in and bought me a 500 gig external hard drive to put all my music and pictures on. (no computer at this time) My friend Kelsey gave me her old digital camera. My mother gave me her old Ipod. It seemed that everyone was happy for my big adventure and wanted to be sure I was well on my way.

I was so filled with Love, Optmisum, and excitement I could have exploded

 The two days before I left, I took my car in for an Oil change, and the “check engine” light was on. The Man at Big O Tire (Dustin) said engine was fine, and not to worry about the light. However my tires looked liked they needed replaced.

I thought to myself (okay now this guy sells tires for a living).

                                

So I thanked him and said I would think about it. I remember clearly before I left Dustin said

 I went home and asked my dad to check the tires. We discussed the pro’s and cons of new tires.

After talking it over, and over, dad finally said like a coach for the underdog team talking to the star player with a twisted ankle....
 

Definitely what I wanted him to say.

I also went to my friend Shane's house before I left town to say good bye. I mentioned the tires. He told me what the tell signs of a tire blow out would be, and how dangerous it is to leave to chance.

On the other hand, Shane is the guy who follows news of plane crashes like some guys do baseball stats. Ask Shane about any model of plane, and he can tell you what the most common cause of failure is on that plane. When, where, why, and how may people died, in one, or more of that planes most famous wrecks.

In the morning I left without getting new tires.

It would take 10 hours to get to Mammoth,  my first stop.

My mom had made this trip a lot when I lived in Mammoth. She said the best route to Mammoth Lkes from Boise was going through Hawthorne.

 I was making good time and about halfway through the day when I realized I was going to Reno.  I was not supposed to be going through Reno. I pulled over and talked with a nice trucker at a gas station off the highway.

He pulled out his map and planned the safest most direct route to Mammoth from there.
So I gassed up and pulled out heading hopefully towards my destination.

About 30 minutes later, I was on a part of highway that was packed with cars and huge semi trucks/ everyone was speeding. The South bound side was two lanes and of course I was in the fast lane keeping up with everyone else.............

What happened next went something like this................

And there I was on the point in the turn where you could not see what came ahead or what you had just left behind. I didn’t know what to do. This had never happened to me before. “Okay Tana, You can do this, just think logically” I said to myself.

 I called 411 (information) and asked the operator for a towing company’s number closest to...... OH NO! I didn’t know where I was....

 I had been zoning out to audio books and had not read and remembered a sign for a good 30 min. The operator gave me a company’s number that we agree would be close. When I called, it was in Tahoe, which is in California. I was defiantly still in Nevada. I called it anyways. The guy in Tahoe and I tried to figure out where I was.

 when we were still unsure, he suggested I call the hwy patrol. Surely the highway patrol would know! If I left that gas station heading south, 30 min ago, going 65 miles per hour, where I was when the tire blew. 

So this was it. The moment my high school math teacher had been talking about.

 Armed with the highway patrol number Tahoe Towing gave me, I got in touch with Christy.

She and I tried to figure out where I was. I could see nothing ahead of me but the side of a large hill and could see nothing but the same in my rear and side view mirrors. 

In the end, Christy decided that if I was alone, lost, and female on the side of the highway, it would be best to dispatch a patrol man to look for me. I reluctantly agreed but said that I would go for a walk and call her back if I saw a landmark.

Now before I can leave the car I have to call mom.
Mom and I watch those crime CSI type shows as a guilty pleasure. So we decided before I left Boise, to avoid becoming the subject of an unsolved mystery

I was to call her if I was going to get out of the car,  ANYWHERE. Not that she could stop me from being abducted, but she could at least tell the cops where to start looking for me.

With mom updated that I was exiting the vehicle, I opened the door and got out.

And there It was. The worlds Biggest Green sign was behind me the whole time. Too tall to see in my mirrors, facing traffic in the other direction. In bright shining white reflective letters it read.

Which Means....

Which Also Means.......

I hung up with mom and called Christy back at highway patrol.

 Told her what I saw, I asked her what towing place I should call. Without answering she asked if I had a spare and a jack? Well now, in all the commotion, and attempts to think "logically" it had not occurred to me that I could change the tire by MYSELF! 

I said I had a spare but probably not a jack. She said Officer Brown was already out looking for me, and would come out to wait with me until a repair man came.

When I had Un-mounted my bike. I started at the task of emptying the trunk, of all that I so carefully packed on top of my spare tire.

 I managed to get the spare out, and my sad excuse for a Jack (I didn’t know was there). To make amends for how utterly useless I had proved to be, I lay in the dirt and tried jacking the car up.

After maybe 10 min of laying in the hot dirt on the side of the Nevada desert, I managed to get the car maybe three inches off the ground. About then I felt something on my leg..........and I sat up...

 and saw that my feet, ankles, and calves were covered in red ants!!!!

By the time Officer Brown arrived there were hippy tapestries flapping in the wind, aside  paintings, and a purple and gold paisley print bike on the side of the road. 

As I, in my "no one is going to see me in these" sweat pants, is doing this...

 I will never forget the look on his face or the uncomfortable distance he kept from me as I tried to explain “There were um….ants…. on me”.

 He suggested I wait in my car for the repair man.
Then he went back to his cruiser to enjoy being free of me, in air conditioning. Ten or fifteen minutes later a truck pulled up and a man jumped out. Quick as ever he had my car up with his industrial jack, instantly putting my efforts to shame he had my spare tire on before I could repack my trunk with the flat tire.

 Both men waited as I put the bike and the rack both securely on my car once more.

I pulled out my wallet and asked the man if I could write him a check. They explained that It was Free of charge. The State of Nevada provided this service for people in emergencies. They gave me a post card with a case number and asked me to fill it out and mail it in to keep the program going. AMEN! Thank you Nevada!

I thanked them both and pulled back on the highway. As soon as I made it around the bend there it was, where no one but me could miss it.....  Not a billboard, not a sign, the whole freaking city.... RENO!

This was only the beginning of my first day.

To be continued.........