Ever have one of “those days”? You know the ones. My friend had one of those days that lasted a week. Last Monday, fully planning on a lunch time trip to emissions to ensure the car registration was done on time, her car would not start. No warning, no previous issues. NADA. Turns out the Arizona heat sucked the life right out of her still-under-warranty battery, and then, as she waited the one and a half hours for the tow service, it nearly sucked the life out of her. Oh sure, she stayed beneath the shady mesquite with rapidly warming water bottle in hand. This lasted a few minutes, until the ants found her feet and decided she was some sort of native delicacy. By the time this drama was over, emissions were closed. She would try again in the morning and proceed to tackle an ambitious schedule.
Morning came and she felt ill. COVID test was negative, but she still felt bad enough to go to Urgent Care. Conscientious, she called to ensure the Urgent Care was part of her insurance plan. The conversation was…interesting. Having given the name and location of the place of the Urgent Care my friend was interested in going to, the representative said, “I found one that is about 6.7 miles from you, is that okay?”
“Um, the one I want to go to is less than five minutes from me. I really don’t feel well and since my regular doctor died unexpectedly, I am without a PCP.”
My friend then proceeded to provide the intersection of the place to the representative who responded, “What is the address of this place, is it in ‘TUCKsin, Arizona where you live?”
My friend hesitated, “Yeesssssss. I don’t know the address. It is new to me. I have only driven by it. I usually don’t go to urgent care; I usually see my doctor when I am sick.”
To which the representative exclaimed, “You should go there; he is covered by your insurance!”
“But, but… I don’t want to go where my doctor is, he is dead. I am just sick,” my friend stammered.
The representative huffed, “Well, then what is the address of the place you want to go?”
My friend quickly looked on her trusty smartphone and provided the answer. Luckily, the representative found the location, which was an approved place, and my friend went home to convalesce with 10 days of antibiotics and all the stuff needed to combat the side effects of the “medicine”. She would work as much as she could, take a nap, and begin again.
In the meantime, registration was due, and although she was negative, my friend discovered she had been exposed to COVID. She called Motor Vehicles who told her she could attest that the car was not being driven, and simply go to emissions when she felt better. Going to emissions didn’t count as driving time. Monday was a holiday, so Tuesday, it was!
My friend went at opening time to be one of the first in line. The wait was noticeably short. “Hooray!” thought my friend who had big plans for the day. This was going to be easy. Turn off the car, turn on the car, step out of the car. My friend obeyed. Then came the results: NOT READY. Did you know that if you have your car battery changed the re-set means they can’t do an emissions test on your car? Well, she didn’t either. She was giving specific instructions (all part of the emissions process) which resulted in driving various speeds for specified minutes, letting the car idle for specified seconds, acceleration, maintaining speed for specified minutes, then stopping, idling, and repeating steps four times. My friend said she half expected a camera crew to tell her she had been punked!
Finally, three hours and a half tank of gas later, she was able to transcribe this article for me. Right away I told her, “Hey kid, things are already looking up. You’ve been spending time with yours truly.”
She smiled and agreed. She said, “Sometimes it’s a dog-eat-dog world and you’re wearing milk bone underwear!” I love dog people, don’t you? We all have those days. Sometimes you just need your faithful friend Rio to give you some perspective.
