Hubby 2 Lubby ~ Day 4 Touch Down

Our intrepid cowboys made it to Lubbock around 2:00 PM yesterday. That was pretty much within the time frame I predicted.

I was at Carol's new condo when her phone rang. It was Neil. They arrived at Lubbock. And they were flat bloke, with only enough money to last a few days. Help!

(It was really amazing to see how much money it took to travel cross-country by driving a moving truck ~ whose rental cost more than half the money Neil received ~ towing a car. Carol gave him a goodly amount that we all thought would be enough. However, there were lots of little hidden costs that did not materialize until the guys were well under way.)

I suggested that we try Western Union.

Our first attempt was through on-line. Carol's order got rejected.

The we tried the toll-free number that was on the website. But that seemed to be sending Carol through the same voice menu loop.

The next thing was to a search for local Western Union agents. The service revealed that Western Union service was available right at Carol's favorite supermarket, the Stop and Shop in Fairhaven.

(The web search also revealed that there were 9 Western Union locations in Lubbock.)

So Carol and I drove down to Stop and Shop with the hope that Neil will have access to some money that very same day.

Carol filled out the appropriate paper work and gave it to the young man over the counter. It was then when we found out that Carol could not pay with her credit card. It had to be cash only.

With Monday being Columbus Day, the banks were going to be closed. So that meant that Carol could not get the cash to wire transfer to Neil until Tuesday.

The fellow at the counter gave Carol a different toll-free number and told her that if she keeps pressing "5" during the voice menu, she will eventually get a human being.

When we got back to Carol's condo, we tried the number that was given to her by the fellow at Stop and Shop. And sure enough, after pressing "5" several times, Carol was connected to a real live human being.

However, partway through the telephone exchange, she handed the phone to me because she had difficultly understanding the Western Union representative on the other end of the line.

After receiving the phone I could understand why Carol had difficultly understanding the fellow on the other end. He spoke with a heavy Hispanic accent which would have made it difficult for any hard-of-hearing person to understand.

So, most of the phone transaction was done through me.

Unfortunately, the phone money transfer did not work either. Due to the large amount of money that Carol was intending to transfer, the bank rejected the transaction until it could perform a manual verification of Carol's Visa account.

So, it wound up that we were going to be stuck until Tuesday, after all, to wire the money.

I called Neil back and explained the situation. Fortunately he still had some money left to be to able to last him until the Western Union money transfer came.

Anyhow, that was yesterday midday.

Later that night, Neil called at 9:00 PM, while 'Miah's mother, Barbara, was still visiting with me. She left shortly afterwards. And so I called Neil back.

Neil was still at his room, trying to rest, while 'Miah was cruising around Lubbock in Neil's Camry, taking in the sights and locating important things for Neil, like apartment books, the yellow pages, the location of a CVS pharmacy, etc.

They still have not unloaded the truck, let alone return it to the rental place.

Neil discovered that his GPS did indeed work in Lubbock, that it had the Lubbock maps. That's good because Neil thought that the GPS was only programed for the buyer's area and that you had to pay extra to have other area maps downloaded. Turned out that wasn't the case.

Anyhow, Neil has until the 16th to return the truck. But 'Miah wants to do it sooner, before he has to fly out of Lubbock on Wednesday morning. He wants to make sure that Neil is all set and that everything is taken care of before he leaves.

When Barbara was visited with me last night, she said she told 'Miah before he left, "Make me proud."

And he's been doing that all the way, tirelessly assisting Neil where he needed help and making himself available to kick the crap out of anyone who would give Neil any grief. That's our 'Miah!

Anyhow, 'Miah already has his mementos from the trip. He got himself a cowboy hat, and for his mother he got a set of state refrigerator magnets from each state that they travelled through.

Today Neil started his first day at work at Allied Associates Consulting Engineers about an hour ago.

Because the working place is walking distance from the motel where the guys are staying, that left 'Miah all alone with Neil's car, and up to his own devices.

It would be safe to assume that 'Miah now is tooling around Lubbock in Neil's car, taking in the sights, and most very likely getting phone numbers from the cute girls that he meets.