The Ill-Fated Road trip

A few of you have heard the story about my attempt to make it to Phil and Heather's wedding a couple weeks ago. Here is the extended version of the story:

On Friday night after gcf (graduate Christian fellowship) large group my roommate and I gave another gcf member a ride home and found out that she was going to Chicago the next day for a family get together. She was planning on getting up to take the train at 6am, but the timing worked out that I could give her a ride, drop her off a couple miles from the highway, and continue on to Phil's wedding in Milwaukee. That made me happy, since while I like road tripping I get bored, and having company helps a lot. So. The next morning we headed out, and I dropped her off right on time. Right after I left, the low coolant light came on in my car. I got out and looked under the hood to see something wet scattered over part of my car.

Now, I'm not a mechanic. However, I do posses shrewd observation skills and a solid command of basic logic.  So after carefully evaluating the evidence before me, I determined that something was wrong with my car. I got directions to the nearest service station and headed there immediately, arriving just in time to pop the hood and watch the remainder of the engine coolant make its bold escape from the confines of my engine via a hose that was as cracked as a drug-dealing cop.

The service station I had happened upon said that they'd have to order the needed part from Saab and wouldn't be able to fix it until Monday. As a good American, I wanted it fixed within the next hour, so I called my insurance company to get my ride towed to a Saab service station. Sweet! tow truck within the hour. Get it fixed. Still make it to the reception and get to catch up with everyone...

An hour and twenty minutes later I called back. "Oh, apparently the tow truck was in an accident and they didn't tell us... please hold... we can get a different truck there in an hour to an hour and a half. Can you wait that long?" "NO! I'm going to drive off, catch me if you can!"  As if I had a choice.  Finally, four hours after I pulled into the station, a tow truck arrived and got me to Saabtech precisely fifteen minutes after they closed for the day, perfect timing. So I ended up calling Betsi (the friend I gave a ride to) and spending the evening with her and her extended family.

Now, as these plans were being made, I was picturing myself being introduced to all of Betsi's relatives as "her 'friend' from college who gave her a ride" (assuming they forget about the "and had car trouble" part at the end).  Meeting her Aunt and Uncle and immediate family was fine, and I went out to dinner with them.  However, after dinner we went to Betsi's great Uncle and Aunt's house where several other family members were lying in wait to jump me, tie me up, interrogate me about my intentions with their great niece/niece/cousin, and quite possibly look strangely at me.  But I knew their plan had a fatal flaw.  When my sister got married a few years ago I had a few awkward moments when I couldn't quite remember who certain people were that I was, in fact, related to.  Therefore, as I entered the door, before anyone could say anything (or get the rope out to tie me up), I greeted them all, "Hi everybody!  Man, it's been a while.  How have you all been?!"  

My shock and awe campaign was a complete success.  In the ensuing moments chaos ruled in their minds.  I could see from the looks on their faces that they were frantically scrambling to figure out who I possibly could be, who knew all of them without them recognizing me.  With the enemy camp thrown into disarray, I was able to explain why I was there, and they were so relieved to learn that they weren't supposed to know me that my explaination was met with no objections, no strange looks, and most importantly, no ropes or bright lights.

In the end it turned out to be kind of fun, because I do like people and Betsi has a very nice family.  I guess I also got a practice run at meeting a girlfriend's family (whenever that happens :).   I was fortunate enough to be able to stay the night at Betsi's Aunt and Uncle's sweet downtown flat, and took the train back to Champaign in the morning, leaving my car for my parents to pick up the next weekend on their way to visit me.

All in all the whole experience  reminded me that I'm not as in control of my life as I'd like to think I am. It could have been a lot worse, I had a place to stay and someone to ride the train back with, but bottom line was that the day went much differently than I had planned.