The freeway here, primarily Interstate 10, is going through a lot of construction. I think they are widening it. Anyway, it is really bad! Four or five on/off ramps are shut down, lanes are narrower than usual, and speed limits range from 55 mph to 75 mph. So that gives you a little glimpse of the freeway…
In Idaho we say, “There are two seasons, winter and construction.” Well, apparently here they say there is summer and construction. (However, I bet it’s really only one season here… 
)
On our second day in our house, I had a few things that needed to get done. First, I received a phone call from an electrician. He needed to get into the house to replace a ceiling fan & wanted to know if I would be home. Today was the day that I needed to return the U-Haul … I told him that later in the afternoon would be better. He was agreeable. Shortly after that call, I received another… The car carrier service wants to deliver hubby’s car. They had two delivery times, morning or afternoon. Again, I said that afternoon would be better…
So, it is about 10 am, I figure I’ll go to Green Valley to drop of the trailer, right? Well first problem, I had no map. Second problem, my GPS wasn’t working, couldn’t even get internet on my cell phone… Really weird. So, as I am driving to Green Valley, I decide I’ll call and find out where the U-Haul is located. Ya gotta love (800) GOOG-411!
The woman who answered the U-Haul phone first asks me a series of questions, you know, did you get the trailer here, where did you get if from, where does your contract say you will take it… etc. Well, apparently you can’t take your one way U-Hauls back to just any dealer. You have take it to the city that is in your contract. I didn’t know that. Also, it is best to call their toll-free number to find out which of their franchises can take the extra trailer. The one nearest my home in “Tucson” was full.
The toll-free person for U-Haul told me that the nearest available franchise was in a small town east of where I was by about 15 miles. So I drove to Corona de Tucson… Guess what, yeah, there was construction. Ugh!
I was so glad to get rid of the trailer! Yay!
One thing I forgot to mention… When I left the house, I found out that the key that I had didn’t work in the lock. Apparently we were given 2 different keys. So this meant that I had to drive to the agency to get another key.
After dropping the trailer, I had to ask how to get to the street that my rental agency is on… Since there are 4 or 5 on/off ramps that are closed on the freeway, I knew the one I needed was probably one that was closed.
I had to drive about 10 miles to get onto the I-10… then I had to get off early and drive through town to get to where I needed to be, because my exit was closed and I didn’t have a map or GPS… Now it is about 12 noon…
It was horrible. I started in the far southwest end of Tucson, the went to the far southeast end, then up to the Northeast end, only to have to go to the Northwest end and back down to the Southwest end again. To Tucsonians, I only drove to the center of town. I never got to the far north…
It took an hour and a half to get from one side of Tucson proper to the other. I did stop at Carl’s Jr. to get my boys some lunch. I finally got to the rental agency, got the new key and decided to try GPS again. I was able to get one reading of a map on my phone before service went down again… I am not that stupid though, I did stop to buy a map. On my way home, I called the electrician to tell him I would be late… didn’t matter to him, he was running late too! However, I get about half way home, I get half way home when I get a call … the car carrier has arrived and nobody is at my house to receive the car. Well, duh! I’m now on Interstate 19! Geez! The driver was half an hour early!
Lucky for me, he waited. I got home and never wanted to leave again. Later that night, my husband took me back to Green Valley for food. I was supposed to have shopped for groceries… yikes!
All in all I covered 77 miles on day two.
More later!
