I wake up and wish Quantum a happy birthday. "That was two days ago," he says. "Didn't you say your birthday was Thursday?" (I hadn't actually looked at a calendar or the date for weeks, I think I've been dreading calendars because I don't want to count the days we're still not in CO. "No, Tuesday." "Ooops! Sorry honey! So you got a broken truck for your birthday. Lucky you."
We pack up all our stuff and corral the cats. The latter is no easy feat, since Jelly and Midget are hiding behind the bed and other furniture.
I'm informed that for some reason the new cell hasn't charged. Something about the battery getting emptied and sucking all the juice back out of the cell phone. Why didn't we charge it in our room? Oh well.
Quantum has a theory that if we can make x number of miles per day, we can still be in CO before the tags on the trailers expire. But there's no way we'll make it in time for the yak delivery on Saturday. Quantum is bouncing along the road ahead of me, and as before, the trailer looks like it's about to fly off the road at any minute. Unfortunately I'm not the only one who notices.
We'd decided to make me the lead car today, sandwiching Quantum between the two vehicles with communication ability. About 20 miles before we hit the planned gas-up stop, CK calls me and says, "Quant just got pulled over by a state trooper." I get off the nearest exit, circle back. The trooper turns out to be a decent guy. As it turns out, ALL of our vehicles are now officially unregistered, because Quantum's birthday has passed. (The idea was to not waste the bucks registering them again in FL and then re-registering them in CO as soon as we got there.) I thought they gave you a grace period till the end of the month, but I guess that doesn't count if a cop wants to bust your balls. However Trooper NiceGuy's concern is the way the trailer is pulling, "At one point one of your wheels bounced right off the road." He hears our story, says he doesn't want to add to our problems and lets us off with a warning. We realize we're going to have to make the entire rest of the trip at about 48mph.
Ten minutes after we get back on the highway, Quantum flags me down. CK's had a blowout on the trailer. We stop at the next exit, pile Quantum, Squeaky and the jack into the T-Bird and head back down to change the tire. It's not just flat, it's shredded beyond belief (and that was a NEW tire we bought only a couple months ago). They jack the trailer up, and Quantum and I take the rim and spare to a shop, then head back and get us running again.
By this time its early evening (we just made the tire place before they closed) and Quantum insists we get a motel. I protest (worried about money) but he points out that we really don't want to make CK sleep in the trailer after sitting in the sun for several hours, and without a shower.
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