Paying through the nose...

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I was driving to Alaska Paul’s parents place in Willoughby to pick him and was thinking about all the places he been and the things that he’s done. He’s certainly by back country hero, though having heard his tale of a trip to the Philippines…I can’t say that I want to match all of them.

We were driving to the Metropark for a walk in the rain…something I’m not crazy about. Once there, I proceeded to pull my boots from the back seat and put them on for a hike I figured would be rather sloppy. It had been in the high 30’s throughout the day and major melting was occurring. As I grabbed my boots, I noticed a flat tire…on my car.

“Shit. I’ve got a flat,” I said and opened the trunk to get the spare. I’ve never needed it since taking the Honda from my son and was pleased to see it was in the trunk and intact…but a little disappointed to see that the jack was missing.

“This could be tricky, Paul. No jack,” I said. We figured we’d better get in the car and drive to the nearest location for tire hole plugging before I was completely out of air. There’s a place in Willoughby Hills at the corner of Route 6 and Route 91, which is just outside the park and about as far as I could safely drive. We took it there and the lady at the desk said she could get me right in. I asked to have the oil changed and a lube since they had it on the rack, which they were all too happy to perform. Paul and I hiked back to the Metropark for a walk instead of waiting.

I received a call from the shop while we were walking. They’d done a safety inspection and found a couple of hundred things wrong with the car and thought that I should probably leave it there and walk home. When we returned to the shop, I explained to the guy that Dan did all my work, but thanks anyway. “Well…if you ever change your mind, we’d like to be your mechanic,” he said as he handed me the bill.

“Um…this says $55 under the labor column. Didn’t you just plug a wheel and change the oil?” The total bill was $93 and they’d only had the car for 30 minutes. I suppose since they’re in Willoughby Hills, they think everyone that comes there has money. Clearly…I didn’t…and now I had even less. I think I’ll keep going to Dan.

Bike duration: 72 minutes. Hike duration: 45 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 biking. 75 hiking.
Calories burned during workout: 1,000 biking. 225 hiking.