Ahhhh summertime!

Oh it's been a great summer! Cool weather, a few fun thunderstorms, no excessive heat. I'm a happy camper! I just looked back and realized the last time I blogged was the Monday after an Appleseed shoot and here it is another Monday after an Appleseed shoot. Today's post, however, will be a completely different story about Appleseed than the first.

I've been looking forward to another shoot for three months. Even tho WonderBrother and Andy-rama couldn't come with, I was determined to go anyway. Friday turned out to be quite the day here at work - the nurse called in sick and we had no other nurse who could work for us, so I pinch hit...no, I didn't draw labs or take BPs or anything, just got the patients in a room and started for the doc. I didn't get out of here until 5.45 and seeing a minimum 4 hour drive ahead of me, I head south (to LaCrosse).

South of Rush City through to Forest Lake (no joke) was bumper to bumper traffic headed north - and they were driving about 15 mph...ugh. It was just before I saw this traffic that I started thinking, "what are you doing? why are you headed down there? are you kidding? you're tired, you need a break and what are you doing, driving to shoot all weekend." Then I saw the traffic headed north and said no way Jose...I'm not turning around. Besides, I said to myself, you do this all the time - stress out before the event and then when you get there you have a great time. Ok - driving south....

I'm cruising along...took 52 south, haven't been through Rochester in a while, fun to see the improvements/changes...

...I-90 now...cruising well with traffic - construction on the other side, hee hee, not me! woohoo! Call Andy and BAM....whooosh...oh thank goodness there's a rest stop RIGHT HERE. I pull off to the rest stop, find the brightest street light and park under it. Get out of the car and sure enough - flat tire. Damn

So - empty out the trunk. My bags, my guns (all three of them), my shooting mat, the umbrella, the reusable shopping bags, the emergency kit, the bug-out bag, my sleeping bag, ...ah! finally! the floor of the trunk! Ok - so take off the carpet, then the hard cover, oooo - look! a donut tire! ok - so that comes out, then the pack of tools...wierd Korean things...and then the jack...ok, the jack. the jack. the jack! damn jack get off of your pegs...it took me 15 MINUTES to get that f&$(#@^ thing off the sidewall of the trunkwell! By this time no less than 6 cars have come and gone from the rest stop, not a single one of them even giving me an encouraging "I'm sorry I know nothing about cars and can't help you but I'll hope for the best for you" smile. One female even had the cajones to say to her boyfriend "...you're supposed to stay in your car if that happens"...omigosh, I was ready to drop kick her ass across the parking lot.

So finally I pry the jack off the trunk wall and start to take lug nuts off the tire...well try to take lugnuts off...now's about the time I call home. I just can't handle this. Talk to dad and realize after it's nearly too late that I've told him the wrong tire and I'm cranking the wrench the wrong way. This left-loose, right-tight thing is tricky cuz the wrench handle is going left but the wrench itself is going right so I was doing the wrong thing...anywho...just as I figure out I'm doing it wrong a kind man offers to help. Now let me tell you about this kind man...he walked waaaaaayyyy around me and made sure I saw him first before asking if I could use some help. What a guy! By this time I think I'm gonna be ok but just in case I swallowed my pride and said "sure." I managed to get the lug nuts loose and then AJ (nice guy's name) just took over and did the rest of it for me. Although I did put the jack under myself and jacked the tire off the ground BY MYSELF! ;) I watched him work the rest of the time and when I missed seeing him tighten a lugnut on the donut he was super gracious and showed me again that it was on tightly. I thanked him profusely and immediately got back on the phone with mom as I finished packing the car back up and headed back on the road (at 6o mph - ugh). Thank goodness that misadventure is over.

...then I checked into my hotel in LaCrosse...

that was the nastiest, smelliest most out-dated Days Inn I've ever been in my entire life. I had a clue as I walked into their add-on glass airlock entry, and the know-it-all at the front desk who said only "they close at 9" when I asked if the BP fixed tires didn't really make me any more impressed with the place, but the kicker was walking into a room that had the nastiest old house smell I've ever smelled. The decor was so outdated I think it would fit in Andy's house...and there were DOUBLE sized beds, not even queen. Okay, okay, I knew they'd be double, but I didn't think they'd be double! Oh dear...what I do for an inexpensive rate on a hotel. There went my plans for a relaxing saturday after a shoot. That's it, I'm going home as soon as this tire is fixed.

...the helpful desk attendant suggested the Farm and Fleet for tires, so i called to be sure of their hours and set my alarm for 7.30am.

I slept well after I turned up the AC so I couldn't hear the I-90 traffic directly outside my window and awoke at 8.30.

Blains (Farm & Fleet) was very kind - good to work with, great people. I asked to have the tire repaired and they said it'd be 30 minutes before I could get in...so...found a Perkin's half a block a way and sat down to figure out what to have for breakfast. Phone rings - it's Blain's - your tire has a hole in the sidewall, we'll need to get a new tire and we need you to sign an ok on it. "I'll be right there." "Server, I'll be back - I need to go back to Blain's" "no problem!" DRive back to Blain's with my car, leave the car, and my spare key; walk back to perkins. Settle in, order a Diet Coke and the phone rings. "Do you have your key fob?" "yes" "your car won't let me unlock it with the spare key" "I'll be right there" ...and there's my Diet Coke just arrived. I walk to Blain's, unlock the car and go back to Perkins (keep in mind I'm walking back and forth and it's 10am and it's humid as all heck). My omlette comes, I read a chapter or two of a book, I'm half done and PHONE RINGS. It's Blain's...your car is done but the car has locked itself again. "I'm just finishing breakfast, I'll be there in 5 minutes" Walk back to Blain's and the gal takes my keys..."Wait a minute, I thought the car was done." No...the TIRE is done...the car was locked and they couldn't put it on. Ugh...So I wait another 10 minutes, read a few more chapters and then repack the trunk of the car.

What a day! $120 more for a new tire - did I mention the broken one had only 700 miles on it - and I'm headed home without having fired a single shot.

The day redeemed itself with a few shopping stops I must mention.
--Cannon Falls. Has an antique place that I love stopping by, but in the parking lot is a new crafts store. GREAT PLACE! I found all my Christmas ornament gifts there. Excellent. At the antique place I found an advertising postcard for
--Nellie's Barn Sale. Totally worth stopping by. They have a bunch of vendors who bring things in four times a year and they have a weekend sale. It's just west of Hastings on 190th/205th st. I found an awesome fireplace screen, a lead pot, a wooden basket, two magnets, a schmitty's patch (don't tell Gabe - it's his Christmas present), a 49 Ford advert, raspberry jam, salsa, and rhubarb peach jam all for $43!

I got home around 5pm and have never been so grateful for home ever...and then I realized I hadn't even been gone for 24 hours...