When Life Gives You Lemons

Everybody has heard this line before. Heck, you’ve probably come up with our own answer a time or two. A few I've heard are; “you make lemonade,” “grab tequila and salt,” and my favorite, “go hiking!”

You haven’t heard that one before?

“Go hiking”

Neither had I…until this weekend.

The Plan

DuctTape and I were scheduled to meet at the trail head at 6:30AM. This meant that he needed to be on the road at 3AM, and I by 4:30.

My 4:35AM text, “all good?”

His response, “yup.”

We’re off and running.

The Decision

At 5:15AM, I pulled into our usual pit stop, a 24-hour convenience store and gave him a quick call. After two minutes on the phone I decided to wait for him. He was just ten minutes away.

In hindsight, waiting for him was a good decision.

Yes, we have hiked the Northville-Placid trail together enough to have our routines down pat. We have a “usual” pit stop. That is one of the things I enjoy about hiking with DuctTape, he has as many routines as I do. Routines give me great comfort.

After buying a 20oz cup of coffee, we are ready to drive the last hour to the trail head.

“I’ll follow you,” my parting words as I hopped into my car.

The Lemon

Sipping on my coffee, listening to Delbert McClinton, I remember thinking about how lucky we were that the weather forecast from earlier in the week had changed. The sun was partially up and the sky was blue.

Less than ten minutes down the road his car slows down.

Would he pay attention to what he’s doing!

He slows more.

Less than five seconds later he is pulling off the side of the road.

What did he forget?

I roll my window down as he approaches. “I lost power, the engine started knocking, and the oil light came on” he says.

After attempting some road side mechanics, we called AAA.

His car is on a tow truck heading to the dealer. It is now 7AM.

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