At Least The Taco Bell Was Good...

It’s funny how one thing can make a completely terrible day turn out to be okay.

Went to Morgantown WV for a WVU visit for prospective students. Got lost, and stopped to ask for directions. I was in the shopping district of High/Chancery street by the legal businesses. Magically I ended up walking directly into Pathfinder (reviews of store). It was impressive to view the selection of bikes and everything else they had in the store. They are truly more of an outdoors store than just a LBS. Met the owner; he seems like a pretty nice guy. I asked if I could take a walk around the store after asking for directions and take a few pictures for my blog; he agreed.

There was a fair selection of complete bikes in stock. I asked the shop employees to get me a price quote for cyclocross framesets in my size that they could have, and the prices, while not competitive (do you expect that for some random guy off the street?) were very fair. This is a plus in my book.

Their outdoors supplies consisted of a ton of apparel, kayak/boat stuff, skis and snowboard equipment, skateboarding stuff, trail running and hiking equipment, a spat of camping supplies, and a few other things I didn’t end up venturing around and seeing.

The employees seemed to be college students and riders, and were accurately knowledgeable. Several of them look scene/hipster as fark, but were willing to strike up a convo pretty easily. I left the store with my driving directions and got back in my car. With the weather being 21*F, for some reason my car wouldn’t start due to low battery charge. I also have a problem with my hood popping mechanism so I could not get the hood open. I went back in to Pathfinder and asked for a phone book. Started calling people trying to get them to jump my battery/open my hood. No one could open the hood, and I even asked passerby’s. I was frustrated.

Went back in the store and called my family. let them know what was happening, then called my interview/visitor center person and let them know what was going on. Also took some more photos.

By this time, I had spent an hour or so calling people trying to get my hood open. After that, I had the idea of getting the cigarette lighter socket battery charger. Called around for about an hour trying to find one of those. Nothing. I think I called every parts store and automotive electric center in a fifteen mile span of Morgantown.

Called Duncan asked him if he knew anyone who could help me. Nope. He came by and hung out with me for a few minutes. I was glad to see a familiar face while being in such a crappy mood. It had been a while, so I went across the street to the Dollar General and got a big bottle of water; I was thirsty. Some guy, I couldn’t tell if he was collegiate, or just some guy stopped right next to the store and went in for groceries or something. he was riding a wicked commuter bike. This thing was all DIY utility:

Amazingly, the setup of the bike was pretty accurate for his height. He was in a slightly competitive position which surprised me even more. This guy must know something about bikes. The bumper stickers were used to keep anything from falling out of the rear rack, and the decals from the bike were scratched off to hide it’s identity. It was specced with age appropriate lower-mid level parts. (Think Shimano LX) I thought this was a great commuter bike!

I eventually found someone who was willing to tow me. Took them four hours to finally get there and have me arrive at a garage. The garage jerry rigged ran my wheels on some kind of tester/rotator and got the alternator up and going then started my car. Towing was $50, Mechanic = $0. I prayed and prayed that this day was going to turn out good, and I was not complaining for the charges I incurred.

On the way out of Morgantown, the anger of not getting anything done kicked in. I missed all of my appointments by like five hours or something by the time I got going; I had to eat. I’m pretty sure I ate out of stress and anger, because I went to taco bell, one of my favorite fast food chains and wanted to take a picture of my meal. I scarfed down the three tacos so fast, I was not able to take a picture of them so I photolyzed the wrappers.

Jeff Dye, eat your heart out

This meal somewhat satisfied me and I left the restaurant feeling better. Waiting for traffic to move before entering onto I-79, I thought to myself:

At Least The Taco Bell Was Good…

The day wasn’t a complete waste; I was able to meet a bunch of new people, see areas of Morgantown I hadn’t been in for a few years, and have taco bell. A mission was accomplished, but just not the one I intended. Some days work out like that.

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