Day 53 - We have picked up a BUG!

Woke up at 7.30am feeling decidedly groggy & wandered out into the garden in just my boxers & flip flops. It was a pretty sight!

I wanted to jump in the pool, but couldn’t because there was another dead mouse in it. Instead, I had to wait for Jackie to wake up to deal with it. When Jackie finally woke up she dealt with the mouse & then declared she wanted to get as much clothes washing done today as possible.

There was nothing for it, I whipped off my boxers & went skinny dipping. Now I wouldn’t normally mention this, but it was over half an hour or so later (& with a slightly pink backside), that I went in for a shower & to get dressed. Ten minutes later, I went back outside only to discover that in that time, the pool maintenance guy had been, done his thing & gone. I must have missed him by minutes, if not seconds!

We then drove back to Tucson Airport for our date with Enterprise Car Rental. We went to the Returns Office & discovered that Steve who we had dealt with yesterday was off & had not left a note to say we were coming in for a convertible. This was not boding well.

We explained our situation to the very lovely Pamela, who informed us that company policy did not allow them to rent convertibles out that were going one way to the East Coast. Brilliant, Steve should have told us this yesterday. Pamela then came up with a brainwave & enquired if there was a convertible at their depot that was due to be sold off. There was, a Mini Cooper & Pamela said she could ‘accidentally’ sign it out to us. This was sounding better!

While we waited for the Mini to be delivered, I tentatively asked how much this would cost & she asked what we had been quoted. I cheekily piped up that Steve had quoted $1400 for a Mustang. She said she could beat that for the Mini & she could get under $1200, she also then gave us an Emergency Services Discount that saved us over $50. We were happy.

Pamela & I then went out to our Nissan to get the mileage, which worked out that we had driven 4677 miles in the 30 days we had it. Whilst in the parking lot, we came across a new bright red Volkswagen Beetle Turbo, which she had forgotten about. We were now getting on like a house on fire & she said that might suit us more as it had more room & she’d let us have it for the same price. I told her she would get a special mention in my blog!

We waited until the Mini Cooper arrived & compared the two convertibles. There was no comparison, the Beetle was newer, but more importantly much larger. Pamela went off to sort out the paperwork while we swapped our bits from the Nissan to our new wheels.

Pam (she wouldn’t mind) came back with the paperwork, I signed it without really checking it & we were good to go. She had also updated the computer & paperwork to say that we could just return our VW to JFK Airport on the day of our departure, 33 days later.

We were really chuffed with our new deal, it wasn’t much more than we had paid for the Nissan Sentra for 30 days, which we thought was a good deal. Not forgetting Hertz wanted $10,000!

Next we rang Charlie who invited us to his work place to look at the Rolls Royce 747. Charlie drove us out to the aircraft only to discover that airport staff had closed the door & moved the steps away. Hopefully we will board it tomorrow instead. Anyway, whilst at the 747 we were able to walk underneath it & study the undercarriage. We sat in the engine & in the tug & had a bit of a photo session. It felt quite a privilege to get so close to the aircraft.

Feeling generous, we offered to visit Tobacco Barn, a drive-thru tobacco shop for Charlie. It is on an Indian Reservation & much cheaper than supermarkets, I think because they don’t pay tax. Anyway we joined the queue of 5 cars & waited to be served. Apparently most of the customers at this time of day are gamblers picking up their fags on the way in to the Casino.

Whilst in the queue, Jackie for some reason decided to check the paperwork that Pamela had given us. One sheet was an invoice for $625 for the last car. NO, surely Pamela hasn’t stitched us up with an additional one-way charge for the Nissan Sentra. Now all flustered we bought our cigarettes then drove to Walmart car park to sus out this payment.

The paperwork definitely stated we were being charged $625. We weren’t having this. I rang the phone number on Pamela’s business card, but it put me straight through to a generic help desk. Anyway, I eventually spoke to a real person & I gave her my reference number. I expressed my concern about this additional payment & was informed that the $625 was the total payment for our 30 day one-way trip in the Nissan Sentra. The lady on the phone told me that we were due a refund of over $700. I don’t know what she did but we love Pamela, I feel guilty for ever doubting her!

We popped into Walmart to enquire about chargers for our laptop, we shouldn’t have bothered, the lad was more than useless. We cruised home & spent several hours chillin’ in the pool. Charlie got home at 5.00pm & at 6.30pm we set off for darts. We did liberate a Ground Squirrel that had got caught in the traps about half a mile down the road.

A 20 minute drive in Charlie’s truck took us to a little dive bar called LB Saloon on the outskirts of Tucson. What I loved about it is you would never go there unless you knew someone.The venue was a proper locals Sports Bar & it was lovely to see whites, blacks & Mexicans really enjoying themselves together. As always, everyone loved the Queen’s English Accent & loads of people were keen to talk to us, including Smiley & Dwight. Apparently I was the long lost cousin of a bloke at the bar & the barmaid went giddy over my accent!

There were 7 dartboards lined up in a row & 3 pool tables at the end. We sat & watched Charlie trounce his opponent, Jim, 13-2. I think I could have beaten Jim. Charlie peppered the treble 20, with 180s & 140s.

It was Single’s League Night & Jim didn’t have a chance. Charlie wasn’t happy because he won 13-2 & lost concentration because his opponent was so poor. By 9.30pm we were back home, Charlie went straight to bed & Jackie called it a night at 10.00 pm.

I stayed up writing my blog knowing that the next stops required my attention & it was too hot to make a name for itself. What a great day!

(I am now reading this the following morning & realise I probably had a beer too many last night , because I have no idea what I was trying to say in the above sentence!)

Song of the Day - Beetlebum by Blur.

Bonus Song of the Day :-

Charlie Boy by The LumineersRead more