Wednesday, October 09, 2013

The Dutiful Daughter And Her Reward

    Took Mom X to the auto-body shop today: they took her neck brace off a few weeks back and pronounced her broken neck healed, adding, "Drive when you feel you're ready."

     She was heap ready on Monday and went out on a long. complicated set of errands; got about half of them done and stopped at a drive-through for a cool, refreshing soft drink (or a milkshake.  She loves 'em.  Who says the fun ever stops?).  The place is known to have some nasty tight turns and Mom hung up her 19[redacted] Fricken Boatmobile-Superba on the curb, then attempted to bull on through, resulting in minor paint removal to a Hardy-McKingFC lamppost and serious front and rear door smashage plus a side-mirrorectomy on the driver's side of the car, all at 5 mph or less.

     She's none too happy about this, but after a couple months of not driving, in a huge car, navigating a fast-feeder set up for Minis, Fiat 500s and Yarii, I doubt I'd've done much better.

     Anyway, I drove the thing up to the body shop with Mom navigating, got the estimate (!!!), stopped off at a different fast-feeder for forage (no names, please -- let's just say they sell well-cooked Roast Beef), took Mom home, and drove my car back to Roseholme Cottage where I shortly learned I'd arrived barely in time to avoid ruining my jeans.  ($40 Carhartt Double-Fronts, painful to replace.)

     See, right there are two good reasons why I rarely* do the drive-through thing: they'll tear up your car and/or your innards. 
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* Rally's, of all places, sells a nice old-fashioned ice cream cone that occasionally calls out to me irresistibly -- I'd stop up my ears and have the crew lash me to the mast 'til we were safely past but the cats don't drive well.

9 comments:

Jeffro said...

I've scuffed a sidewall or three using drive throughs with my pickemup truck. Just. Don't. Fit.

Nowadays since I can't eat 'em, I sure remember with fondness Peanut Buster Parfaits at DQ, ice cream bastion of the Midwest!

Dave H said...

Since we got a DQ here in Upper New York now, the only Midwest foodery I still miss is Rally's. But yeah, they need to do a better job of dredging the channel if you're going to sail a Continental-class land yacht through most drive-throughs.

Old NFO said...

Yeah, Yukons don't fit either... Which tends to STOP me from going through them... Good for the diet though!

Rob K said...

There's been more than once I've hit Rally's when I wasn't even hungry, just because I was driving by. And I b'lieve I've navigated a `77 Olds Delta 88 through the drive through sans incident, but that was when I was young and spry.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

No good deed goes unpunished.

Anonymous said...

When my mom started bouncing off things in the Nimitz class station wagon that my late father had loved, we had a family meeting.

Me: Let's get her something smaller that she can handle.

Smart Brother: I think we should keep as much steel and iron around her as possible.

Smart-ass Sister: Yea, maybe you can rig some old tires on the outside like a tug boat.

Gerry

Gewehr98 said...

I feel your pain.

I can't eat at KFC anymore unless I either stay there for the results, or drive immediately home.

rickn8or said...

Gewher98, avoid anything Sonic then; they mostly don't have restrooms.

Don't ask me how I know this...

Sigivald said...

Takes practice and patience.

I've driven a 21 foot long-bed pickup through drive-throughs ... and sometimes you need to back and fill a bit.

It's a hell of a lot easier in the Corolla.