Riverdance and Timing Belts Part 2

Back to the car. (That is Shannon and the car with the hood up.)

So, after enjoying the second half of Riverdance (which we greatly did), we headed down south to deal with our car.

Our plan is this. Jump-start our car and then go, no more stopping. If we get on the highway, we wouldn't need to stop until we got to Manhattan, which is a better place to leave the car to get fixed than Topeka. Jenette and Chris pulled their car up, we attached the cables, let her go and.. nothing.

Tried it again... and nothing. No luck. So I called State Farm's 24 hour number. I waited on hold for about 15 minutes for a person. Then finally got someone, told her of our situation, and she started to look for a tow truck. I waited on hold another 15 minutes while she called about 8 places and then finally got one to answer! Shawnee Auto Towing.

They wouldn't be able to get there for another 1.5 hours (which means at about 1:00 am) AND we'd need to pay cash since it's after hours. Jeepers. The six of us didn't have the necessary cash. Luckily there was a Wal-mart about 1 minute aways. So we drove there to get the cash. While walking it, Shawneed Auto Towing called and said they had a call cancel and they could come get us in about 15-20 minutes! Sweet. So we got cash, went back to the car anda bout 5 minutes later, the truck was there.

We watched him put the bed down, then he got in the car, tried to start it and said "Timing belt." He didn't even think, he just said it. That is actually good news for us. This summer we were told it would need to be fixed, but we haven't been able to bring our only car in to the shop. So, hoped the tow guy was right.

Okay, car on truck. Truck to Ford dealer's service shop. Paid for tow. Said bye to Newgen. Went to Steak and Shake. mmm...


The service shop wasn't open Sunday, so we drove Jenette and Chris' second car back to Tulsa on Sunday. Then Monday, the service shop called and said it was indeed the timing belt and it would be 600.27$ (parts, labor, and tax) to repair it. We said "do it." Then they called around 4:00pm said it was done, and now our car is all better. Granted it's in Kansas and we are in Oklahoma, but Jenette and Chris are gonna bring it down for Thanksgiving and we'll trade cars back.

So, we are going to get a new car. We don't want to have to keep dealing with these issues. This is the third time this year we've had a problem with our car. It's only 10 years old, but I think she's about done. We'll keep it for a second car, but we will likely be buying a larger more reliable mobile in the nearish future. Sounds expensive...

But for an ironic twist... Jenette and Chris were going to pick up our car in Topeka after work Monday and then bring their new car to a different shop because parts they needed to get fixed were in. Well, their car died! So since we had their second car and they hadn't got ours yet, they had no car! I feel SO bad! Luckily, Shannon said they dealer gave them a car to use. I think he also said they are gonna get a different new car because that Kia they just got has had a great deal of problems since they got it. That sucks.

Riverdance and Timing Belts Part 1

Saturday, after class, Shannon and I packed up the car and drove up to Topeka. We had tickets to go watch Riverdance (like the actual Riverdance!!) with Jenette and Chris and Newgen and Andrea. The plan was to meet at Red Lobster for a nice dinner, then head over to the show.

Well, Shannon and I payed the 8.10$ toll (jeepers) at the south end of Topeka, and then we tried to leave. But no, our car just died on us, at the toll booth. It just wouldn't start. So, Shannon pushed the car to the toll booth parking lot while the attendant stopped traffic. Then we called Jenette and Chris, they were about 8 minutes away. They came and picked us up and we headed to Red Lobster.

After finally finding a parking spot, we actually got seated pretty quick. But, still we've just taken over 15 minutes away from an already pretty tight schedule. Shortly, Newgen and Andrea arrived and we had the fastest trip to Red Lobster ever, about 45 minutes total.

Now, off to Riverdance! We got there about 8 minutes before the show started and walked very briskly into the center. Jenette and I peed, and then the six of us when up to our seats in the balcony. We got there, sat down and were immediately disappointed.

I mean immediately!

You could only see like 30% of the stage! No lie! There was this giant wall for the level below us overing more than half the stage! So, the 6 of us tried to move down and ovet to get a better view. Which helped a little, now we could see about 50% of the stage, still absolutely ridiculous! After the show started, but during one act, Chris when to to tell them how lousy it was and get our seats fixed. They said they couldn't

Then a little later, during the show, Jenette (I should add, the entire reason for this trip is because it's a Christmas present for Jenette from Chris) went to tell them about it, and it may have been the tears and runny make-up, but she recieved a different outcome. They told her that they couldn't reseat us during the show. But we could move seats now and then come down during intermission and they would try to move us to a better location. So, we all squished down and over some more. Jenette, Chris, and I got seats to see about 75% of the stage. Newgen and Andrea sat in the aisle to see more of it. It was crummy, and for 50$ a ticket it was just wrong.

The dancing was great. It's really impressive what they can do with their feet. But there was one act where all we could see was the projector and hear some music. Then a violin player appeared. Apparently he'd been playing the entire time, we just couldn't see him! Geez.

Then intermission came. The six of us wandered down to find the woman Jenette was told to meet. She was polite and worked with some other workers and they found us new seats! For the second half of the show, Shannon, Newgen, Andrea, and I sat in the second row right in front on the floor! Jenette and Chris were about 2 rows behind us. WOW! What a difference!

You could see the entire stage, you could see the looks on the dancers faces, you could see all of the red dancer. And you know what, there was live music! In that corner that we couldn't see there were about 6 musicians playing wonderful music the entire time! It was even more amazing.

So, it ended okay, but is sucks that Jenette and Chris had to deal with that...

Well, now that the show is over, we still have the issue of our car. But this post is really long already, so I'll have to write it up later.