Journey to the Weekend

Considering Monday morning kicked off with a broken oven and a sick cat, I should have known Friday was going to be equally eventful.  Weekday bookends perhaps.  Today was the yin to Monday's yang; the salt to Monday's pepper, and the Matt Lauer to Monday's Katie Couric (still the best co-hosts on Today's show history, in my opinion).

Talk about chemistry!  I loved them

Maybe I should have been more worried today when my instincts told me to pack water, snacks and flip-flops before I left for Canada.  Or maybe I should have know that my good old Jeep Liberty would eventually need a break... But I didn't.

So off to I went Canada today thinking my Nexus pass would be my ticket to fast border crossings on a day when a hundred thousand people were flocking to the Falls to watch crazy Wallenda walk on a wire. 

It was a Friday and I was feeling good...  I quickly stopped in the offices in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and then hopped in my car to zip over to the hotel and meet my client.  And suddenly, my car would not start.  Hmm, not good.  But being the brilliant woman I am, I figured it had to be a temporary issue.  I would meet with my client for lunch and by then the car would fix itself.  They do that, right? 

Four hours later I was ready to head home.  Computer bag loaded, key in ignition aaaand... nothing. 

Great.                                    Peachy.                            Awesome. 

I was a happy camper.  

Three rounds of unsuccessful jumper cables later did nothing but jump start my fear of being stranded in Canada all weekend.  And then my fear got even more real when I realized that Denny could pick me up IF only he could access his passport locked in our fireproof box..  ya know, the one that I locked with the key on my key chain. 

Tick tick tick.  It was now almost 3 PM.  All the local car places were closing for the weekend in 120 minutes and I had no solution.  Hmm, time for AAA intervention.  And what a worthwhile call!  Turns out towing a car across the border IS possible!  Success. 

So by 4ish, I hopped up in the cab of the CAA truck and off we went.  Matt the driver has 5 kids ages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 (whoa), and told me all about how to remove Crayola from kid's bedroom walls.  Good to know.  We crossed the bridge and by 5 he was unloading my car from his truck. 


The Little Jeep's visit to Customs!

Turns out Canadian drivers don't drive into the US and US drivers don't pick up in Canada, so I bid farewell to Matt, the baby-makin tow-truck driver, and waited for the tow truck driver from AAA to pick me up and take me on my last leg of the journey.  I waited, and waited, and waited.  Ninety minutes later, Dan arrived and loaded up the Liberty.  It was the victory lap to a long day. 

Dan was quite chatty.  He broke the ice by asking if my pregnancy was a surprise (did he not notice that I practically have gray hair?), and then told me about how I am building character with Beanette by allowing her to ride in a tow truck.  Not exactly my goal, but I guess it was a bonus for the day.  

By the time we pulled into the mechanics lot, tow-truck drive Dan was telling me step-by-step instructions of how to remove a cat's head from a glass jar if it was to get stuck. Yep, more useless knowledge.  I nodded, convinced him to give me a Pregnancy Discount (he agreed!) and said Good Bye to Chatty Dan.  My ordeal was over and my cute hubby was waiting!!  

It took almost five hours to travel home about 50 miles but it was quite the memorable (and comical) end to my week.  I'm finally at home... relaxing.. and enjoying my Friday with Denny, our character-filled Beanette and our cat (whose head is luckily not stuck in a glass jar). 

Happy Friday to all!

May your weekend journeys be full of fun and useless knowledge!