jamesq | Have Car, Will Travel

I could have called this entry "Have Car, Will Fuck Up Over and Over Again!"

I'm planning on getting winter tires for my car - I was hoping to have this done before now, but my impromptu trip to Vancouver thwarted it. I did manage to get new rims from the dealership and one of the last set of tires in Calgary from Canadian tire. Sadly I could not get everything put together today, and I had to leave for Edmonton for an SCA event. Naturally, there's snow in the forecast for the weekend.

So that took some time. I also had to do some laundry for the trip (it was all still dirty from the Vancouver portion of my vacation). Clearly I need to buy more clothes that fit me.

My original plan was to pick up

hislittlekitty at two and leave the city before rush hour, get up to Edmonton around five and hang out with

nosarious for a few hours before finally crashing with plenty of time for a good nights sleep before tomorrows activities. it was not to be.

I picked up K at about 3:30. On the way to Deerfoot trail, I manage to miss the turnoff. On the bright side, this did take me close enough to the Calgary Archery Centre that it reminded me that I had not grabbed my bow and arrows. Fuck. So now I had to head back to my house before leaving town - which meant a cross-town journey during rush hour on a Friday night. Oh yeah, there was also a major accident on Deerfoot, so it was a parking lot.

Eventually we get back to my house around five (when I was planning on entering Edmonton remember). I grab the archery gear and go back into the car. As we pull away, K asks me "Did you remember the maps?". Fuck. I go around the block, park the car, dash into the house and grab the Mapquest printouts from the printer tray. Back in the car, we take off eventually find our way to the highway north. A few hours later, we reach Red Deer.

In Red Deer, we grab a quick bite, then miss the turn off to get back onto highway 2. Instead, we find ourselves on highway 2A, which is slower, darker, swerve-ier. This takes us to Lacombe, where, consulting our map, we find that highway 12 will take us back to the highway. We get onto a road that may or may not be highway 12, and proceed down it a few miles. As we go though, the road gives us no feedback as to which road it is. We see a gas station and I manage to take the turn into it's parking lot way to fast. So much so that I run off the road at high speed, clobbering a few of those plastic road reflector poles, jumping into the ditch, then plowing back out of the ditch into the gas station's parking lot, where I finally remember the brake and stop.

My very first car accident.

After ascertaining that K was all right, I have a quick mental breakdown, followed by a once over of the car's front and undercarriage. There was some damage, but it all seems to be cosmetic and consists of some cracks in the front bumper. When I finally drive the car some more, it seems to be fine - no funny noises and the drive was as smooth as the whole trip to Vancouver and back. As accidents go, it could have been a lot worse, For one thing, it could have involved someone else, though I'd have rather K wasn't involved.

I go into the gas station to find that I was in fact on highway 12. Driving back out onto the highway, we discover a sign telling us that exactly five feet up the road - now why couldn't they have done that even once in the previous several kilometres. We get back onto highway 2 and proceed north, where we eventually meet up with... highway 2A, which we could have simply stayed on.

Let's sum up:

1) Didn't get the tires installed.
2) Left town stupidly late.
3) Forgot my archery kit and had to go back for it.
4) Forgot my Mapquest directions and had to go back for that.
5) Got lost in Red Deer.
6) Took the wrong road in Lacombe
7) Crashed the car.
8) Crashed the car (I just think that as fuck up goes, this should be worth two).
9) Found out that #6 wasn't an error, and if I had realized that, #7 wouldn't have happened.
10) Found out that #5 wasn't a problem, so didn't need to make error #6, and therefore didn't need to make error #7.

Did I mention that today was my birthday?

After that the rest of the trip was uneventful, but stress-filled. I managed to get K to her parent's house alive. Then I managed to find the hotel which

nosarious is getting me for the weekend (and oh my god is it ever nice). I even managed to spend an hour with

nosarious before he had to go to work for the night. And now it's off to bed. Tomorrow my car will no doubt be stolen, I'll accidentally shoot Elias with an arrow, I'll have the Salmonella special during the feast, and I'll manage to convince every woman in the SCA that I have the clap.