Friday, June 23: It’s Savi Scout day.
Because it’s a gorgeous day, I ride the TransAlp into Seattle. I should be done late morning, and I have a dentist appointment in Lynnwood at 3 pm.
I’m impressed with SCCA radiology: two dressing rooms are connected to one room with diagnostic equipment. It’s quite clever and eliminates the need for lockers or separate rooms for staff to chat with patients.
I won’t lie: it did hurt. Not a lot, but it hurt. More than the biopsy. But I focused on my breathing — and talking with a nurse about the eclipse — and we got through it. I was able to hear what it would sound like in OR when Dr. Javid would use the wand to locate the Scout.
They sent me home with markers so I could keep a big X on “the spot.”
A day of moto drama
The drama began as I was parking the bike. It simply stopped running, and the battery appeared completely dead. No lights.
Uh-oh.
Cursed, dismounted, and struggled to push bike uphill the amount needed to back up into the parking space. Took photo of battery terminal area to send to Mike, who, like me, saw nothing amiss. We agreed that AAA would be my best option to get home.
I left my stuff and went to my 9 am appointment.
After my treatment, I retreated to the garage to make sure the bike hadn’t miraculously recovered. It had not.
The AAA saga
Go back inside, call AAA at 10.20. Tell them:
- I’m on a motorcycle
- It’s 600 cc, no sidecar, has fairing and bags that can be removed
- Is in a parking garage and I will need assistance pushing it out
- Parking garage entrance is on Aloha, not Eastgate. It’s going to be a challenge for a flatbed or even a normal tow truck on Aloha.
They tell me it will be a two-hour wait. I’ll get a text with a link so I can follow progress. Driver will text me when there is an ETA.
I put phone in my lap (it’s on vibrate) after I make this post. I read my Kindle.
Just before noon, I call back. I discover that they had called me – my phone didn’t ring. I’m in a medical facility – in the lobby – near front door/windows. But it’s a shielded medical facility. If I had lost service, I would not have known.
Why did they call?
The person I talked to didn’t put cc size in the form. Woman says “this is a coaching moment for that person” and then confirms fairing/bags. Says she has put engine size in ticket. I re-explain about the parking garage. She explains that I won’t get a text with a weblink until a vehicle has been dispatched. This does not match the expectation that was set with the first call. Still looking at service by 12:24, she says.
I check voice mail (Apple transcribes). What do I see? YOU HAVE A SIDECAR…
WHAT?!?
So, I call back. I get a third person.
- The engine size is still not in the ticket.
- The ticket still says I have a sidecar.
- The ticket does not note that I will need help getting the bike out of the garage.
I’m starting to get distressed. We talk a little more and she puts me on hold.
“You’ll meet the tow truck at the entrance of the parking garage?”
“I can do that if I know when they are going to arrive. I’m in the lobby. The street is narrow and this is going to be tight for a flatbed.”
I’m on hold again.
“We’re going to send two service vehicles out – one to get the bike out of the garage and then a flatbed. We didn’t know you wanted a flatbed.”
While I was on hold, I checked TripPlanner. I could walk down to Fairview and catch a bus in 10 minutes. Be back in Lynnwood by 1 pm.
I cancelled the service call.
Now Mike and Jay get to play around in 5 o’clock traffic to get there and see if they can get the bike out and loaded onto the white truck. Arghhh!
The bus saga
I went into the gift shop and asked for five ones, based on the fare quoted by TripPlanner. I didn’t think about the fact that one bus was Metro and one was Community Transit. Because I normally use a bus pass.
Get on the Metro bus. The driver is probably used to distraught folks at that stop. I was almost in tears, explained that I didn’t have my bus pass. He let me ride $0.25 short.
Hop off the bus, which is running late. It’s not likely that I will make the bus to Lynnwood that I was hoping to get, but that’s really OK. I’m only in a moderate rush.
But I decide to run across 7th and hustle to make the connection, in case the CT bus is late. Mid-way across the street I stumble — who knows why. Down I go!
But my left hand – holding Kindle, phone, a $5 bill and my wallet, remains up in the air! My left elbow and right knee take the brunt of the fall. As does the toe of my left clog, the one that stayed on my feet.
My Facebook family has lots of suggestions on what I can do for my clog!
LESSON: ALWAYS TRUST THE LITTLE VOICE.
The one that protested slightly when I decided not to take my purse with (a) battery charger and (b) bus pass.
Yes, I came home on the bus (1.5 hours with the walk to the first bus stop). With cash (ouch). Until Lynnwood, where I bought a backup Orca card to get from the transit center to Edmonds CC.
The phone had 11% battery remaining when I got home (with all notifications off except phone/text and all apps off).