Day One: More exciting than I would have liked

[thrihyrne]

I'm safely in a hotel in Bristol, though it's taken me a while not to feel rattled. I had a quiet night last night and got on the road around ten o'clock this morning. I stopped regularly to stretch my legs, and after 3 or 3 1/2 hours on the road, as I was chugging up a hill on I-81 south, this horrendous noise assaulted me and I started yelling invectives because I was scared out of my mind. I slowed down and was pulling over and knew something had happened to one of my tires, and then saw one of my hubcaps hurtling ahead of me up and off to the shoulder of the highway. Panting and my heart racing, I turned the car off and put on my hazards, huge semis still roaring past me as I retrieved my hubcap and investigated what had happened. My back left tire had totally blown out. Not flat, shredded. Once I could breathe somewhat normally, I called AAA and they said they'd be there in about a half an hour. A young man stopped and I let him know that I was being helped but thanked him, then a representative from the county sheriff's office stopped. He stayed with me until AAA showed up and put on my spare, and then he let me follow him to the nearby town (I was, amazingly, only 1 mile from the exit) to a tire place where I got two tires replaced. I could've stood to have all four replaced, but they only had 2 in the right size, so they're on the front. I'm mostly recovered from it all, and have had my belief that a very good number of people in this world really are well-meaning and full of integrity. I told the sergeant once I was at the tire place that he was an angel. "I've been called a lot of things," he said with a smile, "but never that!" I got his card so that I can send him a thank-you note.

So. I actually had to stop about 10 miles down the road after I'd had the tires replaced to walk around and focus on breathing. From time to time I get really tingly hands and my lips tingled and were kindof twitchy; my thumbs get pulled into my palms involuntarily and it's pretty scary. It doesn't happen very often, but after keeping my composure through all of that I think it just hit me and I really couldn't function. I was feeling that my car was the potential enemy; I've not had anything like that happen to me before so suddenly. I've had a flat tire, but nothing that loud and scary. Plus, I'd had a bunch of work done to Bianca (the car) including a timing belt and other belts and two front axles, so there's a part of me that's hyper-aware of the changes to her and worrying that some key bolt is going to drop to the ground and I'll crash into a guardrail or something. It's the downside to being a writer and a person with an imagination that really should be curtailed.

But now I'm safely at my hotel and I have internet again, yay!!! I felt so isolated without my connection to you all. I'm also in active strife with my mother, so I've been keeping my phone off until I get a little more distance and/or I'm planning to call people with whom I'm staying on my journey. On the plus side, I went ahead and posted a room wanted ad on the Portland craigslist, and in the 2 days since I posted it (when I was internet-less) I heard from no fewer than 6 people! One person needs somebody sooner than I'll be there, but the others I've emailed and let them know the situation and I'll see what they say. I think that's tremendous, and bodes well for the future. Tonight I'm relaxing after going to the ubiquitous Wal-Mart to get a chicken ceasar salad and 2-liter of Diet Coke; I brought my little boom box and have tunes on I enjoy, and will type up the beginnings of a fic I'm working on. Today I was too frazzled and emotionally strung out to really think about fic while driving, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get more into that groove. Plus I'll be staying with a fellow writer for a couple of days, and I'm hoping we'll sit around and do some writing and/or talk about it while there.

I'm enabling comments, but I probably won't be able to reply. Just wanted you all to know that I'm safe, en route, and quite enjoying having A/C. :)

Comments

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the tire blowout didn't turn out worse. And here's hoping that you were getting the bumps out of your journey early on, so that the rest of the way will be smooth sailing.

And when you hit San Francisco, drop me a line if you're up for dinner or coffee or something.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

It could have been so much worse than it was… I'm so grateful for the timing, really, and the location.

I'm hoping to see you! Once I get to the west coast I'll email you. :ponders: Do I have your email? Mine's on my bio if you'd care to send me a quick note. I should be in SoCal the 23-25 or so, then San Jose around the 26/27th, and then SF after that. I'll be posting regularly, though, all forces willing. ;)

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

My email is stormwynd9 AT yahoo DOT com.

Oh wait ... it sounds like you're going to be in SF when I'm out of town. I'm going to be at Disney World from June 23 - 30. Drat drat drat drat drat. :-S

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Oh no!!! Yes, that timing is near to exactly when I'll be there. Bummer! I would have loved to have had coffee with you and chat about all that's going on. ::disappointed sigh::

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Hey, you can stay till July. no prob. :D

and: Hi, Storm-person! I'm Thev's SF host. :D