Southern

8-23-10 Well, I'm back at Southern for the second semester of my junior year, and it was a little bit of an adventure to get here.

There's this steep mountain-grade section of I-24 E, right near Monteagle, and it usually scares me the entire time I'm driving down it because my overactive imagination is like "What if you go barreling over the side of the mountain?" and "What if one of the semis loses its brakes and needs the runoff and barrels over you and you go careening over the side of the mountain?". (I have a healthy respect for heights. Go figure.)

Anyway, I actually made it through that section just fine. I had put my van into second gear (like it was recommended in the owner's manual) and it conquered that section of the road. I was the calmest I'd ever been down that section of highway.

Alas, the good feelings were not to last. I had gotten to the non-mountain-gradey stretch of road and had started thinking about where to stop for lunch (since I'd been traveling since 5:30 AM and only had 24 miles left until Chattanooga, and about 40 miles left until Collegedale) and my van started making horrible noises, an amped-up version of the slight thubbing that I'd heard on my way up and down to camp. I immediately knew that the sounds were not the kind native to well-running cars, so I took the next off-ramp. At the top of the ramp, I slowed for the stop sign and went to make the turn to get to the little gas station (which doubles as a fireworks emporium; it's the only thing at the exit), and the van wouldn't go. I pressed the accelerator (in case it just needed a little encouragement), the van lurched forward,  the sounds intensified, whirred, and then something blew. I got out and looked under the hood because I thought it had come from the engine. Nope, that was good. So I looked under the car. Not so good. Something was hanging down at an angle.

I got back into my van, crying, and called my mom. The first things I said were, "It's bad, it's really bad," and she's like, "Are you okay? What's wrong?" So I told her. About that time, a man pulled up and helped me push the van (which had been blocking the lane) beside the guardrail, and then he gave me a ride to the gas station.

The gas station folks were really nice. They called a wrecker, who came and picked me and the van up. We drove to their shop in Jasper, and they examined it. The first thing they told me was that I had been "this close" to having a wreck because my driveshaft had been pulled out and twisted in half, the universal joint had been ripped out, some type of brackets had been broken, and my rear tires had shoved forward into their wheelwells. I was told that if I hadn't gotten off at the exit, I probably would have crashed shortly after that exit. (Praise God that I'm alive!) They told me that they were surprised that I had made over 500 miles on it in the last two days, and I got ribbed a little for it being a "Northern" vehicle. (Know how they could tell? All that rust from snow and salt. He said that the rust marked it as either a really Northern vehicle or a really Southern vehicle.) Anyway, they decided that the best way to get me to Collegedale was for the guy who picked me up to drive me and the van (on the flatbed) to school. We had to stop in Shallowford to get cash out, and then we wound our way into Collegedale. I checked into cau Village via Thatcher South and then we headed over to my new apartment. He tilted the van so that I could unload it, and I seriously thought that after I'd cleaned it out (since we decided to junk it, since we had no money to pay for its repair and because the wreckers said it wouldn't be worth putting the money into) and paid him the $100 I owed him, that he would leave.

He didn't; he stayed and helped me bring my stuff into my Southern Village apartment. It was really nice of him to do that, for he didn't have to. It was one of the bright spots of last Thursday. I finally got to eat after walking to the Village Market at about 6 or so (so I had a super-headache from lack of food, heat, and stress, which didn't go away until I was in bed and had taken some Tylenol), I unpacked a little, and I finally went to bed.

Friday I got some things done, but I mostly unpacked. I went to the vespers at the church because some of my friends had gotten onto campus and I was very glad to see them. Sabbath I went to my regular 10:15 service, and then Katie M. and I went to my apartment and then I invited Alan and his brother Chase to come over (because we can do that in Southern Village, within specified times) and I fed us pasta. Then we just hung out, and it was pretty fun.

On Sunday, Amanda and I got our books (I spent over $800 for books; ridiculous!), she went to work, and I scoured the Sunday paper. Then after she got off work, we went shopping for food, shoes for me, and some sundry items. It took us four hours, but now we each have food. :D

Today, I went to Hulsey with Katie, had a meeting with the other English club officers, waited an hour to speak five minutes with Dr. Peach, had a surprise meal at Campus Ministries because I stopped by to say hi, waited another hour to speak with my financial adviser (she was at lunch though, can't blame her for that, I chose to wait), did some work on my computer, ate dinner at the cafe with Katie, Beth, Alan, and Chase, went to the gym for a bit, and now I'm here. I think I'll head to bed soon.

Anyway, this year will be an adventure without a car, even though I did already plan to walk to school every day. It's just going to be more difficult to get off campus when I want  to. And I have no idea how I'm getting home at Christmas and May, or how I'll get to camp come summer. But right now it's August, and God will work something out.

More later.

Ashlee