Friday Night Departures

So after waiting an entire week from when I won the auction, Friday arrived.  So did a snow storm!

Flight was originally scheduled to leave at 8:30 and that was pushed back an hour due to delays and de-icing, etc.  Snow ended up not being too terribly heavy.   

Another flight also left a few hours before my flight and now it was lost.  Malaysian Airlines 370.  Thank you Flight attendant for continuing to bring that up as we waited on the tarmac to take off.

Not too long of a flight, less than 2 hours.  We arrived around 11:30 pm in Springfield, MO after battling a flight with a malfunctioning heater.  When we got on the plane it was about 95F and then early on they turned it off and let it get to about 45F before returning it on.  No sleep was had in that climate control event.  Not complaining, but it was memorable.

Check in at the Marriott Courtyard Airport for $80/night.  Slept soundly, woke up, ate breakfast in the lobby and waited for Adam to bring the BMW.

Around 10:30am he arrived, just as the rain is letting up.  I had already Paypal'd him $500 as a deposit and had a cashier's check for $2,500 on my person.  I checked out the car, it's running smoothly, and as described.  The interior was a bit dirty and would need more than a detail to fully sort.  Rule #32, when you see a car for sale and the interior pictures are out of focus or weirdly cropped, there's a reason.  Now BMW E30 interiors are relatively cheap and easy to replace with non-cracked, non-worn out parts, so I wasn't too upset about it.  The key to this car was zero rust and the low price.

So I drove off to top off fuel at the nearest convenient megamart fuel station.  I realized that the automatic transmission is hesitating as if the torque converter isn't hooking up correctly, as if the correct fluid spec wasn't used.  Hmm, this really was going to be an adventure.  At my first fuel up, an older country man came up to talk about his experience years ago with a BMW and check out this AWD bulldog.  Fun times, good conversation.

So up on the road this car at 75mph on cruise was doing just fine.  Drove straight down the road with minimal vibrations.  The new BigO generic tires probably needed a slight balance.  Who knows, maybe the knock off 15" Ronal rims were slightly bent?   Probably a balance.

Two hours down the road, I noticed the car was having issues climbing hills at speed and the tach was spinning up high.  Uh oh!   As I was creeping slowly down the interstate on the outskirts of Kansas City, the car began refusing to go forward.  I am only about 180 miles down the road.  Bummer.  Pulled off the interstate onto the shoulder.  The car will reverse, but no more forward.  Hmm.  

I actually was angry at this point.  I called and left a message for Adam, "Adam, I'm about 2 hours down the road and the transmission is refusing to move the car forward.  I have a hard time believing you didn't notice something wrong.  Give me a call back."

As I was analyzing the situation a Missouri State Trooper spotted me and pulled up behind me.  As he was walking up to the car, Adam called back.  I answered my iPHone, "Hello?" 

"John, I'm about 2.5 hours away, I'm driving to come get ya!  I feel bad, I'll make this right!"

That conversation disarmed me and made me realize, I better relax and enjoy the adventure.

The officer was a young man, originally from Arkansas who had been on the job about 5 years.   He and I sat in the front seat of his Dodge Charger cruiser while we waited for the wrecker, he called, to arrive.  He said, "I noticed that your plates are registered to a different black german car, what's up with that?"

I replied, "Yeah I just bought this car in Springfield.  Here's the title, my insurance on the car and neither state will give me temp or perm plates on a Saturday.  Colorado has to see the car.  So I put some plates off my Porsche so I wouldn't be driving down your roads plateless."

He looked over the documents and was cool with my story and situation.  We chatted for another 20 min about his job and what I did for a living and was a pleasant experience.  I should have asked to turn the siren on.  The lights were already on!  :)  

The wrecked showed up shortly and latched on to the front with the car in neutral and hauled me a mile down the road to a Walmart parking lot where I could wait for Adam to arrive.