Yesterday was one like I have Never had, all at one time!
Started out, that we were preparing to go to Jamestown, Kansas to pick up the '72 SL350 that I had bought off of ebay. First off, I didn't REALLY think I'd end up with it and would get outbid and that would be it. I even placed my bid, with some time left on it, which is something I rarely do anymore. There was 1 other bidder and he never made another attempt, as I only placed a $5 bid over his. Anyway, my Dad was in the hospital with pneumonia and things were happening with him. So, that made it difficult for me to schedule my picking up the SL. I tried several times to setup a day to go get that bike. BTW, we're talking about a 7 1/2 hr drive, 1-way. SO, finally, things seem pretty settled with my Dad and he was in a Rehab. So we lit out yesterday morning. I was using my GPS, to get me there (used Map Quest in the past, but it messed me up several times and I finally managed to get a moderate priced GPS a while back. Things were going pretty good. We cruised up to Fort Smith and topped off the gas tank up there and as I was headed through Fort Smith, a Nissan Altima decided to give me a problem and messed with me. I finally got tired of that and blew his doors off! So, I'm feeling better than I was and we continue on over to Roland Oklahoma, where we on I-40 and headed West. Things went just fine, til we got on the North side of Tulse, Oklahoma and the Interstate that we were to switch to, was closed. I knew that IF I got off course, the GPS would try to get me back on and it did. So, that problem was short lived.
So, we made it up to pickup the SL, without too much problem. Met the folks who had the bike, got it loaded, visited a little and then left out to head back. Coming back, I elected to select a return route, w/o the tolls. Looking back, I should not have done that. We ended up coming down I-35 towards Oklahoma City and I hadn't thought about doing that. On the way down I-35, I had the opportunity to head back over towards Tulsa and hit the Turnpike, but
I didn't and would later regret it. You see, things were going pretty good, then it happened! Up ahead, another car put on his 4way flashers and I saw why. up ahead we were approaching
the side of a hill and traffic was backing up at a pretty good rate. I thought that they had had a bad wreck and was feeling pretty bad about that. It took us forever, to get through that, as there were an amazing amount of cars, trucks and Semi trucks too! We finally got through that and found that there had been a fire by the interstate that was causing the problem. Thankfully, not an accident. SO, get got out of the immediate area of Okla City and pulled off
at the 1st Convenience Store, to use the bathroom, get gas and a snack. None of us had been to the bathroom for some time. Problem was, when I exited the Interstate, there was this stop sign (where, in most cases, I have seen Yield signs) and, of course, I ran it AND, of course, there was a Cop! I didn't even know he was there OR that he had pulled in behind me. As I realized that he was there, Karla and Joe (the young man I work with) were getting out to go use the bathroom and the cop like to have had a hemorrhage and made them get back in the car. So, He let me explain their need to get to the bathroom and let them go on. Then he checked me out and let me off. Boy, as soon as we were done with that place, we headed back home and didn't get in til about 2AM! I was expecting to be here at around 9PM or so. What an event filled day! Good to be Home and in 1 piece!
