Day 114

December 1.

Oh my. Talk about a day to remember.

After a thoroughly disappointing breakfast at the La Quinta Inn we headed out for the second leg of our journey.

About 20 miles outside of Chattanooga something rather horrible happened.

I was in the fast lane, trying to get past a semi, when I saw a couple of very large falcons feeding on some roadkill in the divider about a half mile ahead.

As I approached them one of them lifted off and began flying across the highway, perpendicular to traffic.

Just as I was thinking that the beautiful bird was in serious danger of being hit by the semi the falcon turned and began flying straight toward me.

I had no time to react and even if I had there was nowhere for me to go.

A loud bang went off immediately to my left, as if someone had fired a shotgun right next to me.

I looked over to my left to try and catch a glimpse of what hit my in my driver side rear view mirror, but there was no mirror to be seen.

It was gone.

There was no way that poor falcon survived that impact.

The next 20 miles were an adventure. Driving in high traffic without a side mirror is something I would not advise.

We got off of the highway at the first sign of civilization and looked up the nearest Nissan dealership. Fortunately it was only a few miles away. Unfortunately they didn't have any replacement parts in stock.

They informed us that our only option would be to have them expedite one and have it repaired the next morning.

Anyone who knows me knows that I never settle for the options I'm handed.

I got the attention of a salesman and told him that I'd like to trade up.

It took a while to get everything sorted out, but the guys at Mountain View Nissan in Chattanooga, TN, namely Joel Fort, the salesman, and the finance manager, whose name escapes me at the moment, got us in a brand new Pathfinder and on the road again.

We were able to keep our reservation in Roanoke that night without any more hassle than a phone call to the front desk to let them know we'd be getting in rather late.

So yeah, no walking AGAIN.

Day 114: BOOM! ZOMG! WAREZ DA MIRROR?????