I was scheduled to pick up a rental car on Thursday. My brother drove us to Enterprise (who had the cheapest long-term 4WD rates around) to get the car. Seems like a simple thing….but not so much.
First, we were heading up Middle Line (or Middleline, depending on which sign you want to agree with on the subject of spelling), just getting ready to turn right onto Geyser Road to head to Saratoga. My brother had stopped at the stop sign, and a fellow in a pick-up who had the right-of-way started through the intersection. Some dude heading south on Middle Line blew through the stop sign and T-boned him, sending him spinning towards us. He wound up doing a 450+, parts flying everywhere, but didn’t actually hit us. So we pulled over (on top of one of the truck’s running boards, as it turns out), made sure everyone was alive & not bleeding and called 911. I actually pulled my phone out to call and answered an incoming call from my hairdresser, who I promptly hung up on.
The fellow in the pickup was fine, having luckily noticed the other guy at the last second, and floored it, so he got hit more on the bed than right on his door. The other guy was limping, although he kept saying it was a soccer injury. He was pretty shaken up, convinced his airbag hadn’t gone off (which it had), and generally freaked out. We had a bit of trouble getting him to sit down and stay put until EMS arrived.
His car was pretty messed up. The windshield was impacted pretty hard on the passenger side, which was odd given that he didn’t have a passenger or any head cuts and was holding his chest like he’d hit the airbag & wheel. Apparently, the starring was from the unrestrained GPS in the front passenger seat. There’s a lesson in that for all you kids out there…
After the sheriff had statements, we were back on our way to the Enterprise in Saratoga. We arrived to find cars in the lot, but fortunately my brother didn’t leave, because there was also a small sign on the door saying they had relocated the previous day, a fact which the woman who took my reservation on Monday had neglected to mention!
We drove halfway back to Ballston, and located the new offices in a closed car dealership. They were getting the wiring for the alarm system installed on the door, so that every time anyone went in or out the tech had to get down and move his ladder. And one goes in and out a lot when renting from Enterprise…
So we got the Sorrento or equivalent I rented (AWD is a good thing in winter with my mom’s long twisty hilly drive) and set off. Almost immediately a low tire pressure light came on, so we went back. They didn’t have air yet, so we caravaned to a nearby Stewart’s Ice Cream, where they did have an air pump. The Enterprise guy said it was just low because it had gotten colder (which it pretty much hadn’t for the several days before and anyway, we were talking 18F, not -30F) but said he’d give us another car if the pressure was more than a couple of pounds under. It was six under on the first tire, and we did not need to mess with tires, so we said we’d take something else, please. He said all they had available was a Suburban, obviously hoping we’d say it was too big to drive. Since we’ve had, and really liked, 2 of them, that wasn’t a problem, and off we went, to his chagrin :-). So far, so good, although it appears to be about due for an oil change.
All in all , it took about 4 hours!
Out of Ice and Time 