Things to Do Before Leaving NOLA # 10: Have Four Days' Worth of Horrible Car Troubles

This story is probably as long as the horrible day that the system beat us in Thailand.  In an effort to consolidate, I'm going to bullet point the story:

Friday, September 30:

• last day of work
• return one rental car to the airport
• park other rental car on Tuesday-street-sweeping street.  (No matter, we'll return it Monday.)

Saturday, October 1 - Monday, October 3:

• do lots of moving errands
• do lots of fun stuff, as outlined in the previous 9 posts in this series
• run out of time to return rental car

Tuesday, October 4:

• sleep until noon
• lollygag about the apartment for a few hours
• get a tan in my living room

• inform Summer that I don't feel like leaving the apartment so she leaves to go to her appointment alone
• get phone call from Summer
• "where is the car?"
• realize rental car has been towed
• make 357 phone calls trying to see if tow lot will release car to us, since we are not owners. nope.
• make 432 more phone calls trying to see if rental company will call on our behalf
• resolve, finally
• walk to tow lot two miles away through bad, bad neighborhood
• talk loud and fast to Summer through bad, bad neighborhood so nobody gets any ideas about robbing us
• finally pick up rental car, $193 later 
• drive it to the office to pick up Summer's car which has been stored at the office and not driven in 7 weeks
• follow each other to drop rental car off at the airport
• ride together back to apartment
• break down two miles from apartment on off ramp
• Summer steers and I push car 
• a few good Samaritans help as she pops the clutch and starts the car and it runs for two blocks
• repeat for two miles
• finally give up and call triple A
• wait for triple A driver
• drive car no problem with help of triple A driver's power pack attached to battery
• it's the alternator, he says
• leave car overnight with voicemail to mechanic, who advertised Foreign car repair
• stay out until 4am dancing with Lionel Batiste

Wednesday, October 5th:

• wake up late and find out Foreign car repair place does not work on cars over 10 years old
• discover Enterprise rental car company would have come and got all of our rentals, we wouldn't have needed to drive to airport
• pick up another rental car
• push/pop clutch on Summer's car for three blocks
• jump car with new rental car

• drive car two blocks again
• give up
• leave Summer with her car, drive rental car to ATM to withdraw $70 cash, in order to leave deposit for alternator shop's power pack so we can drive Summer's car there for repair
• return to Summer and her car, drive 3mph the two miles to alternator shop, who has graciously stayed open just for us
• leave car with adorable cajun couple
• REALIZE THAT ALTERNATOR SHOP IS 45 YARDS FROM ORIGINAL OFF-RAMP BREAK DOWN LOCATION:

Photo taken from alternator shop.  We broke down at that traffic light the night before.

Thursday, October 6 - Friday, October 7:

• cross fingers, hoping car will be ready for our cross country journey on Saturday  (it was)

Saturday, October 8:

• drive to South Carolina, only to be informed part-way through the journey that the destination had been changed to Birmingham, MI.  

The Adventure Continues...