Back in August after we moved Ashley into her dorm Ruby the Honda CRV gasped its last bit of life on our drive home. The night before it was time to move Ashley back into college for the Spring semester we joked about that time, relieved we wouldn't have that experience again.
The joke was on us. The morning of the full spring move in (back in November we had to take EVERYTHING home because we didn't know where they would be living in the Spring, turns out she moved across the hall) Don ran a quick errand and the new-to-us Honda Element started spouting smoke.
Uh-oh.
Let's back up a bit. Due to COVID, everyone had to take a COVID test prior to moving in. The school provided kits with information on taking the spit test no more than 72 hours before moving onto campus and mailing it via pre-paid UPS box to the company for processing.
Sounds simple enough. And it should have been.
Enter a massive winter storm dumping up to two feet of snow in New York (where the test processing center is located), and over much of the East Coast (where the students are from) that lasted from Sunday to Tuesday. Move in was scheduled over Thursday through Sunday. Let's add in another snow storm planned for Sunday. The result was most students seemed to move in on Saturday instead of spreading out over four days.
Smoking car. Don quickly drives our car to our mechanic at Firestone. They quickly identify the problem as being the caliper needing new calipers and new brakes. Meanwhile I call my parents and ask to borrow their car, which they agreed to. When I went to drive Veronica the convertible to their house I learned Veronica had a dead battery.
Um, okay.
AAA said they could come out in 60 minutes (upped to 90 minutes). Dad drove his car to our house, and took mine to his house to let the battery run. Don's car became a rush job, miraculously they could get the part in record time. His car was fixed. We loaded the Ashleymobile (my old car) and his car in only a few minutes. Overall we were only 10 minutes late to check-in time, and were granted an extension in case we needed it.
When Ashley made it to her floor a large cheer was heard outside, through the closed window. Her roommate left this sign on her bed:
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| In the COVID-era, sinks are assigned |
Happy unpacking!
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