Oklahoma City to St. Louis (a lot like driving to California)

I’ve finished my project in Oklahoma City. It was a good learning experience and I have definitely figured out what I would like to do in Public Health (or at least what I don’t want to do). I met some really nice people at the job and already kind of miss it. However I might just miss it because for the first time ever I had evenings free; for the first time I didn’t have a paper or exam hanging over my head; for the first time I could just watch tv or read for fun and not feel like I was deliberately neglecting something more important. I think getting back into the gradate school swing of things will be harder this year than usual.

So last Sunday morning I packed up all of my things (a couple duffels, two garbage bags of shorts/shirts, tennis bag, all my dress clothes on hangers, and probably 5 six-packs of apple soda). I strategically packed the car and prepared for the seven-hour drive home with my younger sister in the car and my cat. I left early in the morning choosing to try and get the bulk of the drive out of the way before it got blazing hot. I got 3 hours in and was right on the Oklahoma/Missouri border when my car started screaming. I drive a Volkswagen beetle and it has had its fair share of issues. It’s got about 120,000 miles on it and I’m scared it’s on its last legs. The car had overheated and I needed to pull over before I burned out my engine. I was literally in the middle of nowhere – no houses, no cars, no exits. Thank God for cell phone reception. I called Triple A and they sent a tow out to me. The tow truck gets there an hour later (an hour of myself, my sister, and my cat overheating on the side of the highway) and before I could say anything the old man tow truck driver turns to me and says:
Driver: Yall boyfriend and girlfriend?
Me: I’m a chick.
Driver: Oh, yall lesbians then?
Me: That’s my sister.
At this point I was mildly fearing for my life and switched into “ultra-conservative, Sarah Palin tattoo on my ass” mode. I was able to talk the driver into taking my car, my sister, my cat, and me 40 miles up the road to Joplin. Apparently, as he later explained in the car, the last few people he had picked up on the side of the road had been raging lesbians. Seriously, I can’t make this shit up. He felt it was a huge waste of beauty and called me a “good girl” for not choosing that path. At this point I was very happy to be getting out of Oklahoma.

I get to Joplin and creepy tow truck driver unloads my sister, my cat, my car, and me at a Firestone. At this point I figured my car was low on oil and engine fluid (it’s had this issue in the past since my car leaks fluids) and it would just need a little attention and I’d be back on my way. The firestone guys were nice enough to let my cat run around the show room and, aside from one patron threatening to take her to the Vietnamese restaurant across the street, everything went smoothly. Five hours later the Firestone guys tell me they have no idea what’s wrong. Thanks guys, it took you 5 hours to admit you’re clueless. So I arrange for a tow to come in the morning and take the car to a European Import shop down the street. I load ALL my belongings in a mechanics truck and he takes my posse to a hotel down the road. I check in and sneak the cat in the side door. At this point my indoor cat has been in my car, in the tow truck, in the firestone, in the mechanics car, and is now in a foreign hotel room. I’m scared she’s going to reach her breaking point and just croak.

The next morning my wonderful father drove down 4 hours from St. Louis and packed all my crap in his car, took my sister and my cat and droped me off at the Import Shop. They drove to St. Louis so my cat could get into some familiar surroundings and I waited for the very nice mechanics at Sharky’s Import Shop to fix my vehicle. Four soap opera shows, 5 Sports Illustrated magazines, one trip to Wendy’s with the guy working on my car, and about 10 chapters in my crime novel later I was back on the road. I drove back to St. Louis with a new water-pump, timing belt, and temperature gauge (and an ulcer).