Not really. This wasn’t the plan when I along with my parents started for our trip to Springfield last weekend. We started at 8 a.m. and were cruising our way to New Salem to visit Lincoln’s village which is a historic site. While driving I did feel some noise and a little imbalance here and there but I thought it must be the strong winds. As we reached mile marker 116 on I-55S, we heard the noise grow big and there I realized that my right rear tire had gone kaput. Oh gosh! I slowly pulled over to the shoulder and took out my cell phone to call AAA. My dad suggested that we change the tire ourselves but I being a AAA ‘Plus’ customer decided to give them a chance. So I called them and the customer service lady took down my details and promised me service in the next half hour. I looked at my watch and it was 9 a.m.
While we waited on the shoulder with our hazard lights on, we saw number of trucks whizzing by shaking our car with their might. We were thankful to God that it was a pleasant day. We continued to chat among ourselves and dad would suggest in between that we should go ahead and change the tire ourselves but I would not relent. Finally half an hour was over and we were getting impatient. I called up AAA again and the operator apologized to me for the delay and promised me service at the earliest. This brought into my mind my horrible experience with AAA a few years ago.
I was on my way back from church on a sweltering July afternoon. The time was around 12:30 p.m. and I95S was jam packed. I and my 2000 Honda Civic were traveling on a snail’s pace when I realized that the heat indicator on the dashboard suddenly started going up. I was a bit worried but continued to operate the car. After a little while the driving became uncomfortable and I exited out of the interstate and stopped my car under a bridge. I tried restarting the car but it wouldn’t and the gear had jammed up too. I realized that the car had overheated and decided to cool off a bit. Meanwhile I called AAA who promised me that they would send me a tow truck at the earliest. I waited, waited and waited but the tow truck never arrived. I called them up multiple times but nothing worked. Finally after two hours I stared my car again and found that it had cooled off pretty much. I drove it back home and took it to the mechanic the next day. Even though I didn’t receive any service from AAA that day, I did receive a letter of apology from them for not being able to service me.
Will I be stood up by AAA this time again? I thought. It was an hour now. I called up AAA again and conveyed my displeasure about their service. The operator said that the towing truck operator was backed up due to lots of calls and he would be with us soon. My dad again gave me his sage advice but… While all this happened we were visited by state troopers more than one time asking us if we needed any help. Finally the tow truck arrived and it was as if we found an oasis in the middle of the desert. The mechanic quickly replaced our flat tire with the spare we had with us. He suggested us not to drive far on the spare tire and told us about a nearby Walmart where we could get new tires.
We reached Walmart with the aid of some modern technology (read GPS) and waited for 2 hours to get the rear tires replaced and rotated. We got a free tire upgrade since they didn’t have the tires that were promised to us. This was something to cheer about in the day so far. Finally we started our trip (which we were to start 5 hours earlier) and toured Lincoln’s house and the Presidential Library at Springfield. We had to cancel our trip to New Salem and Lincoln’s tomb because of this unexpected turn of events.
This taught me a very good lesson. We may have a long list of plans for our life but ultimately it’s all up to the Lord how He wants these to be executed. We may face some curve balls in the journey called life but in the end it’s our faith in our God and determination that sees us through and everything turns out just right.
60 miles for a set of tires… yeah that we did and some more. So what’s next… 120 miles for a walk in the park? Who knows…? Stay tuned…
