Bud’s Bits and Bytes

On Monday morning I flew back to Washigton DC to pick up my Corvette. I should have known it wasn’t going to go totally smooth. Mom and Dad drove me to the airport and just before I got out of their van I realized I did not have my cell phone with me. Dad gave me his to use in case I had an emergency. The flight was smooth, the Corvette started right up, I was able to say goodbye to Phil (the 100 year old man) and then hit the road towards florida. I got about 30 miles down the road when I noticed a car on the shoulder of the road with someone waving frantically out the window. As I passed I realized it was Tammy. I pulled over and she drove up behind me, ran up to the car and said she wanted to buy me dinner. We drove to the next exit and had a nice dinner together and left on very good terms. I continued my trip and drove until about midnight getting half way home. I got a motel for the night, got some sleep and hit the road again about 7:00 am. About 10:00 am the electronics on my vette started acting strange. First the air conditioning/heating controls went out and the car started putting out heat. Then the radio quit. I pulled off at the next exit, filled the car with gas, checked the fuses (didn’t find anything wrong) and decided to get going - wrong - the car wouldn’t start - not enough battery power to start it. I called triple AAA and they sent a flat bad truck who took me to a repair shop. My battery had a bad cell and after replacing the battery it was determined that the Alternator was shot. There was only one alternator in town and when they installed it it did not work. They couldn’t get another one until the next morning so they drove me to a motel about 3:00 pm and said the new alternater should be in about 7:30 am. so I spent the night in exciting Brunswick Georgia, about 30 miles from the Florida border. When I woke up I called and they said the truck bringing the alternater had broken down on the highway last night and it wouldn’t arrive until around 10:00 am. When the truck finally did arrive about 11:00 am the alternater was not on it - it has been sent on a different truck to a city almost 3 hours away. They got on the phone and located another one I Savanah Georgia. They had a driver there picking up tires and so he picked up the alternator. I had lunch. Finally at 3:00 pm - they installed it and I was on the road again. The car ran great but the air conditioning/heater controls still didn’t work and I drove the next 4 hours to mom and dads with the heater pumping out hot air in 90+ degree weather. I put the top down the last two hours - I didn’t put it down sooner for fear of getting sunburned. Well I finally got to mom and dads a little after 7:00 pm - I had stopped once to get some water to drink and another bottle to keep pouring on myself to avoid heat stroke. Needless to say, I took a cold shower at my place and went to bed after eating dinner. I am glad I made it, glad to have everything here, and in my spare time will work on the Vette to find out why the air conditioning doesn’t work. If I am lucky it is just a fuse.

Today I spent the day completely redoing my studio. I decided there just wasn’t enough room in the spare bedroom so I moved the studio into the master bedroom and I will sleep in the spare bedroom. Dad came over and helped some and lent me some moral support. It is now 8:00 pm and I am just about down. It will be a much better arrangement this way.