Mclean, Texas. In between the middle of Texas and Oklahoma. Now, if you had been in contact with me as I was planning my trip, you know this would be the most terrifying part for me. I love the movie Twister and have a fascination with tornadoes. I've always wanted to see one... now that I was here, not so much. Anyway, I was a little below half a tank and things were looking pretty scarce... I think the last gas station was 15 miles back and I had no idea when the next one would be. SOOO, I see this place, it looks sweet. Little gas station, motel, and convenience store. Not name brand, but I'm also in Mclean, Texas. I stop, fill up my tank, and go inside to re stock my red bull supply. I walked into the store and immediately thought of Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses". No Joke. The broad working the counter was weird. It was literally a trailer. Maybe I watched too many horror movies, but I had a BAD feeling about this place. Oh well, too late. I got my red bull and left.
BOOOOOOOM! No more than ten miles later, my car stopped accelerating and my engine light started flashing like crazy. FML. I went into panic mode. There is nothing out here and I have been passing "tornado shelter" signs at pretty much every exit. I called my mom frantic...almost crying...FREAKING OUT. I'm sure she could have done without the stress of knowing her daughter was in the middle of nowhere in trouble!
I called Rob next... he had helped me out so much with my car before I left. He talked me through and told me to find the nearest place I could...OK...
Nearest exit - Shamrock, Texas. Where? Who the F knows?! Shamrock = Lucky, right? Meh. Not really. I found a Napa Auto Store ... flashback to House of 1000 Corpses. No offense, but I was a white girl, by herself, in trouble, in a not-so-white part of town (please don't take offense to this peeps...these were raw feelings at the time). As soon as I walked in, three other guys walked up behind me to hear what was going on. I still had Rob on the phone and he made me sound like I knew what I was talking about. They ALL walked out to my car behind me. You know Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses? Him, three times, at my car. One dude told me he didn't have the authority to look at my car and diagnose a problem...ok, fine. He sent me across the street to a mechanic. It was small, but the minute I pulled up this guy looked at me and I'm sure he could see the fear in my eyes. He stopped working on a car and walked right up to me and asked what I needed. Either this could be good or bad...he was sweet, checked my car and said everything looked and sounded fine. He said I may have put some bad gasoline in my tank and it got into my engine. Thanks Mclean - bad gas. Awesome.
I took what he said. Gave him some cash for looking at my car and drove off. An hour later, Marilyn, the bitch did it again. I pulled off the freeway to a Shell gas station - I was in Oklahoma at this point - I felt like people were watching me and didn't want to let on that I was in trouble. Harley at this point was freaking out. He knew something was up. Poor thing.
I kept at it. I was determined to get the fuck out of Oklahoma. I hated it. I'm not gonna lie, I already had a feeling that this would be a problem state. I got through OKC and into Tulsa. Six accidents on one two lane highway...I just wanted to get to Arkansas - my next destination. I think Oklahoma lasts forever. FOR-EV-ER. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. If I wanted to stop, I would have let Harley pee all over it.
It was late. It was dark. There were stretches of road where there was nothing but darkness. Not even other cars/trucks in sight. ENTER ARKANSAS. Thank God! I was still two hours away from my hotel, but the simple fact of being OUT of Oklahoma was enough for me to relax. Marilyn hadn't acted up in over an hour. I think I held my breath this whole drive. I arrived at Aloft Rogers at 10:30pm.
I got into the lobby and of course there was a Halloween party happening. It's a W wannabe hotel. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I checked in and as I walked to my room - located on the lobby level, next to the bar - assholes started barking at Harley. I normally wouldn't have cared, but this dog had been through enough. So, yes I yelled back "you're an asshole". Not the most clever of comebacks, but hey, I had been driving for 14 hours at this point. I turned into mama bear. I felt guilty for putting him through this and started to regret driving. I was over it. I just wanted to scream "F all of you!!!"
The night was restless as people came in and out of the hotel bar, screaming down the hallway. I can't blame them. I wish I could have partied the night away. It was here, I learned of Hurricane Sandy for the first time on my trip. Uh-oh, I'm headed right for it!! I tried to sleep....another day of driving ahead of me. Thank God it would only be a short five hour one to Memphis.
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| House of 1000 Corpses moment |
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