Home Again

I love working at Horse Master.  Love it, love it, love it.  Really.  I always learn so much and have such a great time, but it's nice to come home.

However, my coming home plans didn't go exactly as planned.  The night before I was to come home, it was my turn to drive to the wrap party, so I hopped in Ripley and turned the key.  She cranked and cranked, but wouldn't turn over.  I tried a couple of times before I gave up and someone else drove to the wrap party.  When we got back, I gave her another try.  Even tried jumping her (which was absolutely not the problem) so that when I called Kia support I could honestly tell them that it wasn't the battery.

I called Kia, assured them that it was not the battery (see?  I knew they'd ask), and set up a tow for the next morning.  Thank God towing is included in our warranty, because I can't even imagine what the bill was for a tow from Salida to Colorado Springs (112 miles).  I was also supposed to drop Steve and Jackie (cameraman and key grip) off at the airport on my way home.  Well, that wasn't going to happen.  Luckily, one of my housemates for the week lives in Parker, near Denver, so she volunteered to drive them out to DIA. (Thanks, Susie!)

Ripley's first ambulance ride

The very first thing the tow truck driver did when he got to the house to pick up Ripley was check the battery.  You know, just in case I have no freaking clue what I was talking about when I said the battery was fine.  I can't really hold it against him or the people at Kia, because I bet there are a whole lot of people out there who haven't got a clue as to how their car engine works.

I sat in the tow truck and read for most of the trip to Colorado Springs - I can't tell you how thankful I was to have Eloise with me, since I finished one book and was able to immediately start another during the drive.

At the dealership, for the first time, I was not asked if it was the battery.  Whew.  I might have lost my shit at that point.  It took a couple of hours, a couple hundred pages of reading, and what seemed like a million years of the game show network, before Ripley was up and running again.  Turns out it was a disconnected hose; a very small one, about 2 to 3 inches, that connected to the cold air intake.  They replaced the hose and clamp and sent me on my way.

I had planned on being home no later than 2:00 pm on Friday, but I rolled in about 5:30 instead.  I was hot, tired and just a little cranky.

RCC fixed my mood by taking me to the movies, where it was nice and cool.  We went to see Rock of Ages.  Has anyone else seen it?  It was so much fun!  Tom Cruise is maybe not my favorite person on the planet, but he's a hell of an actor.  We had seen the previews for it a couple of weeks ago and decided to go see it simply because of the music.  Going to see it was a good choice, made even better by the fact that we'd put it off long enough to see it at the $3.00 theater.

Have I mentioned that it's good to be home?