Trouble

I got some confused replies to my last post.   The post was sort of an inside joke for my Mom, Jack and a few of their friends.    All of Jacks friends are awesome, interesting, vibrant people.    The whole moving experience was good but at the same time it was endlessly fraught with pending disaster.   The first major issue was that the house didn't close, an issue with repercussions that could adversliy effect 5 families.    If Mom is not going to have the money to buy her house those buyers wouldn't have to buy their home from other people who also want to buy a new home.   The 5th family is Jack's.   Jack is playing dutch boy and puting his finger in the dyke.   He stepped in, put down a payment and is getting a loan to buy the house himself.   This is slightly risky on his part and a large pain in the butt, but everyone gets what they need.   

I became aware of the second almost disaster when I was jared awake on I-70 just outside of Denver.   A trucker was swerving all over the road and when Jack tried to pass him he started to merge into our lane.   I woke up a blaring horn to see the guy go from inches away from hitting us to almost runing off the interstate on the other side of the road.   I am sure there was an accident behind us and amazed that Jack didn't hit the wall to our right when he dodged the truck.   We were alone on the road for the next hour or so.

The next almost disaster could not easily have been a disaster.   But to continue on a theme...   Merrin and I had the job of taking the truck back while Jack entertained his buddy who was visiting.   It was an easy task.   We were to drive strait up the interstate an hour and a half to Morgantown WV, drop off the truck and drive back.   Jack is a traditional paper kinda guy and tried to give Merrin a map to the drop off and Merrin insisted that she would use Betty her GPS unit and everything would be fine...   When we were leaving Merrin tried to give Betty to me.   No no no no...   Every time I touch that thing I have become frusterated.   She was leading I was following.   First step is my fault.   The truck shakes violently as I mentioned before and I wanted to speed up to 65, the speed that had the least shaking.   So I sped up and got in front of her expecting that she would pass.   She didn't.   I tried to call her but we were in a dead zone.   Eventually I did get a hold of her.   Problem was that it was right past our turn, it wasn't really a problem though, we just turned around and continued along.   But it was set the tone for the rest of the trip.   It wasn't much later when we turned off a highway on to a road that was headed straight up a mountain.   I called Merrin 5 times to ask where we where before this and by this point I just pulled over.   We had taken a wrong turn and betty was just trying to get us back on track.   To turn around I had to go another mile on this windy little road to a church parking lot and then wind back down the mountain.   Did I mention it was raining.   I noticed an interesting thing about my mind at this point.   I tend to get a little grumpy when things are inconvenient or slightly uncomfortable, but as soon as things get to the level of pain in the ass I become happy again.   At this point I could see the humor in the situation.   Next turn around was when we approached a tunnel marked "No Trucks".   Shit, now we have to go around this mountain!   And where in god's green earth are we?  Why are all the people dressed like freaks?   Apparently we were driving our big yellow truck through a civil war reenactment.   We had to ask a few people for directions and everyone was very nice.   Then there was a bridge that was to narrow for me and a car so I had to wait till it emptied to cross.   Then a switchback turn at a stoplight... I had to do a 3 point turn in the middle of the intersection.   After that it was Ok, just winding roads and steep hills...   All and all the trip took about twice as long as it should have.   Damn technology.   

It was actually a really good experience for Merrin and I though.   It gave us an opportunity to get aggravated but not take it out on each other.   That's a big step.   I am very good at keeping my shit to myself with friends but with family all of my old habits arise and I turn can into a jerk.