Murphy's law...I'm kicking your butt!

Tuesday...wonderful Tuesday. This is the day I'm am suppose to finish loading the Harley, pack the rest of my props, outfits, and everything else one needs for three months of chilling out in skating nirvana. I still have a TON to do today and head out first to Home Depot for some prop stuff that is needed. I then run over to John's to have my trailer lights fixed which takes no time at all. Costco then tells us they no longer carry the tires I usually get, so John makes a few calls and a friend hooks us up with a great deal at the local Firestone. Good news, yet Murphy is still working against me and two tires turns into a necessary four.

With that out of the way, I run over to Sears to secure a luggage carrier for the top of my truck. A quick 20 minute installation turns into over an hour due to a bolt shearing off on my luggage rack. Thanks Murphy - much appreciated. On my way home from Sears, I stop at the Lynn's house (seamstress) to pick up the rest of my outfits. I finally arrived home around 5pm and loaded the Harley and all the rest of my gear. An hour of sleep later I hit the road at 10pm.

The plan was to drive through the night and start teaching in Kansas City, MO by 8:30am. My satanic GPS, Lola (a navigon), had other plans for me. Construction, rain, and lack of sleep wrecked havoc upon me. After calling for help and getting an email of the correct directions, I felt confident about making it there but a little bit late. Lola yelled bloody murder as I followed the email's corrected route for about 4 miles until she said, "fine ok, I'll go with it now." At least that is what I thought. I didn't arrive until 1PM!!!! How did a 11hr drive turn into 15ish hr drive? The navigon is going on Craig's lists!

My good friend and coach extraordinaire, Maryhelen, helped rearrange my schedule to fit in the lessons that I missed. The one little girl I work with, Bailey, has progressed nicely and won her competition the following weekend. Good job Bailey!I had a nice few days withfriends, and visiting Katie, Mike, and my buddy MoJo! Before we left,  I decide to enough was enough and Lola was replaced by Christine (Steven King story...that car would kill for him!  So Christine won't let me down!) and stepped up for a better, cheaper model, a Garmin...and it ROCKS!

With Ashley following, we start out on our 20hr trip to Sun Valley around 3pm. Around 8pm at night I pull off to get some gas. This car pulls up behind me at the pump and I see the driver get out to approach me. I'm thinking to myself, "hmm...I don't think I cut anyone off for someone to be upset with me...let's see what he wants." He apparently is the champion against Murphy's Law....and noticed I had an issue with my trailer's tire. Yeah, the tire was disintegrating! Another few miles and BAM, my Harley could have been toast! I walked into Walmart which was next door and the guys threw a new tire on, and I snagged another just in case to throw into the truck bed.

You know those Walmart emails that go around showing pictures of all the interesting people who shop there?  Well, all I can say is it is true, and a number of them stopped to talk to me about my Harley as I was readjusting my packing to fit the tire in the parking lot.  An entertaining time for sure!  :)

On to the next day....

Dan Hollander