Road trips are often filled with entertainment and excitement as one looks forward to whatever event they are heading to. The camaraderie enjoyed by people often times is equal to, if not better than whatever show or game a person is going to.
And then sometimes something strange happens, which only adds to the adventure.
Such was the case Sunday afternoon as I jumped into a minivan and headed to Bangor with Chris Carmichael, Robbie Smith and Ken Holck to take in the Motley Crue/Alice Cooper concert in Bangor and relieve the 1980s one more time.
About halfway into our trip, I noticed the sound of something dragging in Carmichael’s van. We decided to pull over at the rest area in Millinocket to investigate and sure enough, there was most of his exhaust system dragging on the ground.
This presented a bit of dilemma as we looked at each other and said “Now what?” Do we just leave it and press on? Do we turn around and head back home? Or do we get a little creative?
The answer was the latter. Not wanting to miss out on the show, but not wanting to cause further damage to his vehicle, Carmichael came up with the idea of rigging the exhaust with something to keep it in place. The question then became, “what are our options?”
Since none of us came with a roll of metal wire or duct tape, we had to get even more creative. “Anyone got a belt,?” Carmichael asked. None of us had one — at least not one to spare since it was holding up their pants — good fortune smiled upon us as one of Carmichael’s friends, Ben Cole, happened into the rest area and just so happened to have a spare belt.
After a few minutes spent crawling under the vehicle, the exhaust was secured well enough to at least get us to Bangor where additional repairs could be made. We made it to the show safe and sound and enjoyed one heck of a spectacle. At one point I was convinced that the Cross Insurance Center was going to catch fire from the bombastic display of pyrotechnics. A quick mental note of where the closest fire exit was checked off, and I was soon back to enjoying one amazing show.
As we were riding home, the thought came up, “Hey, should we be worried about fumes?” So off we all went to our smartphones to research the subject matter. I’m not sure how any of us survived without these devices. We also had to keep checking the score of the New England Patriots game, of course.
Speaking of smartphones, we rely so much on technology these days that we often ignore that tiny voice inside our heads telling us, “Hey, this doesn’t look like the right way to be going” even though the GPS is telling you to keep going.
That happened to me earlier in the week as I was driving from East Grand School, where I had just covered a soccer game, through the Haynesville woods to get to Katahdin Elementary School for a school board meeting.
I hadn’t been through this part of the state in quite some time, and as the number of houses became fewer and fewer, I’ll admit thoughts of every scary movie imaginable popped into my head as it started raining and the sun was setting. What happens if I break down? Who is in the truck following behind me? What was I thinking going this way? And will I ever arrive at my destination?
As the friendly computer female voice kept telling me to follow the highlighted route, I had the feeling something was not quite right. Sure enough, the route selected turned into a single-lane private road that eventually came to an end with a backhoe blocking the way.
Fortunately, it wound up being only a slight diversion and I made it to my meeting on time. But it reinforced for me that technology, as great as it is, sometimes is not as good as the voice inside our heads.
