Saga of Milwaukee
Jan. 30th, 2008 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gracedpalmerAs of Saturday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moments_away and I set out for Milwaukee. The trip there occurred with only minimal adventure (missed interstate 39, wound up on 55, discovered that there was a small highway running from near Chambana to Lake Geneva.) Spent the weekend hanging out with samadi. Also saw her girlfriend, and the Sun Carolyn of France, plus Cris. Discovered were a cheese store, and a small store dedicated wholly to spices. Also, books. Many were purchased. I now have a lovely thick cookbook of Indian recipes likely to make me quite round, and two novels, plus a big chunk of 5 year cheddar. Milwaukee has many seagulls, and a tasty Ethiopian restaurant.
All in all, the trip was quite good, though a few times there were simply too many people in the tiny apartment. The return trip, on the other hand, was an ordeal of much dreadfulness. Plans were to get the car, pack it, and visit American Science and Surplus Tuesday afternoon before taking off. The car, however, did not start. Since I drive a Prius, a dead battery is a really big deal, and a pain to fix. I called the dealer, who insisted that it could be jumped, though I was dubious. They recommended their tow company, which was likewise cheerful about jumping it (I took great care to mention that I drove a Prius, early and often).
The actual truck did not arrive for more than three hours, and the driver had not been sent witha jump pack. He insisted, quite rightly, that you're not supposed to jump hybrids, and spent a lot of time on the phone with Toyota. Eventually, when it was clear that getting a tow wasn't going to happen (tow trucks do not fit in parking structures), they sent another truck with a jump pack. We jumped the car successfully, and went for Vietnamese food, because we were very unhappy by this point. Car was eventually loaded, and the temperature was dropping quickly.
Visibility through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois was bad, as the snow was falling pretty heavily and the wind was gusting hard. If we hadn't already been on the road, staying in Milwaukee would have been better. However, I was pretty sure thatmoments_away did not want to be around people any more than necessary by then, and turning around would have sucked. In the middle of Woodstock, IL, the front right tire went "piff". It was about 2 degrees outside (according to the sign outside their bank), and very windy. Made it into the parking lot of a gas station, where the attendant, who was on break, but staring at us, refused to let us inside to warm up. Replaced the tire with a donut in shifts, with frequent breaks to get warm, and the help of a very nice man who was trying to buy cigarettes. Without him and his extra jack, this would have taken much longer and sucked a lot more (my jack is fastened inside the trunk by some arcane mechanism that I still haven't figured out. What happened to screws?)
You can't safely drive faster than about 50 on a donut, but that didn't matter, cause low visibility and high winds meant 35 was doing pretty good, until we got far enough south for the weather to clear. Almost everyone (except the gas station clerk) that we met was really helpful, including the nice road worker who told us that our road was closed and showed us how to get to the interstate from there. We made it back at around 3:30, mildly hysterical. My car is still full of stuff and needs to go to the dealer. I've been useless on the productivity front for the past day, despite attempts to do my work.
The universe wants me to take the bloody train, it seems.
Still, all is okay, no one really wants to kill me, and all the rattie-butts are ok. So, we'll call it a success this time, take the car in, and next time, bribe a few travel gods before taking off.
I am so tired.
moments_away and I set out for Milwaukee. The trip there occurred with only minimal adventure (missed interstate 39, wound up on 55, discovered that there was a small highway running from near Chambana to Lake Geneva.) Spent the weekend hanging out with samadi. Also saw her girlfriend, and the Sun Carolyn of France, plus Cris. Discovered were a cheese store, and a small store dedicated wholly to spices. Also, books. Many were purchased. I now have a lovely thick cookbook of Indian recipes likely to make me quite round, and two novels, plus a big chunk of 5 year cheddar. Milwaukee has many seagulls, and a tasty Ethiopian restaurant.All in all, the trip was quite good, though a few times there were simply too many people in the tiny apartment. The return trip, on the other hand, was an ordeal of much dreadfulness. Plans were to get the car, pack it, and visit American Science and Surplus Tuesday afternoon before taking off. The car, however, did not start. Since I drive a Prius, a dead battery is a really big deal, and a pain to fix. I called the dealer, who insisted that it could be jumped, though I was dubious. They recommended their tow company, which was likewise cheerful about jumping it (I took great care to mention that I drove a Prius, early and often).
The actual truck did not arrive for more than three hours, and the driver had not been sent witha jump pack. He insisted, quite rightly, that you're not supposed to jump hybrids, and spent a lot of time on the phone with Toyota. Eventually, when it was clear that getting a tow wasn't going to happen (tow trucks do not fit in parking structures), they sent another truck with a jump pack. We jumped the car successfully, and went for Vietnamese food, because we were very unhappy by this point. Car was eventually loaded, and the temperature was dropping quickly.
Visibility through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois was bad, as the snow was falling pretty heavily and the wind was gusting hard. If we hadn't already been on the road, staying in Milwaukee would have been better. However, I was pretty sure that
moments_away did not want to be around people any more than necessary by then, and turning around would have sucked. In the middle of Woodstock, IL, the front right tire went "piff". It was about 2 degrees outside (according to the sign outside their bank), and very windy. Made it into the parking lot of a gas station, where the attendant, who was on break, but staring at us, refused to let us inside to warm up. Replaced the tire with a donut in shifts, with frequent breaks to get warm, and the help of a very nice man who was trying to buy cigarettes. Without him and his extra jack, this would have taken much longer and sucked a lot more (my jack is fastened inside the trunk by some arcane mechanism that I still haven't figured out. What happened to screws?)You can't safely drive faster than about 50 on a donut, but that didn't matter, cause low visibility and high winds meant 35 was doing pretty good, until we got far enough south for the weather to clear. Almost everyone (except the gas station clerk) that we met was really helpful, including the nice road worker who told us that our road was closed and showed us how to get to the interstate from there. We made it back at around 3:30, mildly hysterical. My car is still full of stuff and needs to go to the dealer. I've been useless on the productivity front for the past day, despite attempts to do my work.
The universe wants me to take the bloody train, it seems.
Still, all is okay, no one really wants to kill me, and all the rattie-butts are ok. So, we'll call it a success this time, take the car in, and next time, bribe a few travel gods before taking off.
I am so tired.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 06:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:38 pm (UTC)Was it by chance, The Spice House you visited? If so there is a location here in Chicago and Evanston if you ever make it up this way and have time to go spice shopping.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-04 03:14 am (UTC)