Not even kidding–this week’s shout-out goes to the State of New Jersey, the NewJ, Dirty Jerz, etc. etc.
While you folks were lighting sparklers and steaming crabs, Leah and I were off on our epic adventure. Friends who’ve known me for a while also know that I am just a personal jinx on my car. She’s survived so much, and keeps chugging along, despite crisis after crisis. There was the time that it was stolen and later recovered by the FBI after having been used in a series of bank heists (true!). Or the time it was hit by the Philadelphia Fire Dept. and they left me a note. Or the time that the electric company towed it for some temporary construction and left it in an alley between two abandoned buildings. Or the other time or the other time. My car is a trooper.
So we’re driving along, girlin’ out over our girlcation, listening to some girl-tunes, in Northern NJ, about an hour or two from our final destination, and I hear a loud pop! from behind us, my car starts to wiggle like crazy, and luckily, so luckily, the cars behind us saw it and slowed down enough so we could make a fast move onto the shoulder. A truck pulled over to see if we were okay; apparently, an old tire in the rear had hit something, or something, and the tread flew off, leaving wires and raw rubber exposed. Damn! And of course, by a sequence of boring and long-winded events, I didn’t have any tire-changing tools with me. Nor do I have AAA (yes, getting on that now… thanks Mom), so I called up Geico, they connected me with an emergency response person, who then directly connected me to a tow guy in the area, who THEN started to head in my direction and said “uhhh, why don’t you just call NJ DOT? They’ll take care of you…”
DID YOU KNOW? The New Jersey Department of Transportation has an army of service trucks that patrol the highways LOOKING for people who need help. And they help you. For free. So not only did Tony the Tow Guy stay on the phone with me while I figured things out, he also saved me a crap ton of money and referred me to a free service. And the NJ DOT trucks are awesome! I waited not more than 20 minutes, the guy put on my spare and perked up my tires free of charge, and safely saw us to the next exit to get a replacement. I also expected the rest of the process to be a complete pain in the ass, but the two auto shops we visited were completely nice and honest and awesome to us, the afternoon before the 4th of July, when you Know homedude just wants to go home to a beer and a brat’ and a bbq.
You don’t even have to pump your own gas in New Jersey!
NewJ, I’m sorry you get all that Armpit flack from Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers. You’ve won a billion more points from me. I’ll see you again next month for beach fun, too!
