Today was a crazy day. And, not in a good way.
I left the apartment at 6am to start my morning surveys. I run these surveys in a rental car; before Hurricane Irene we had a brand new Ford Explorer. When the Hurricane came, we had to return it and when we started surveys again, they gave us a GMC Terrain. I thought the clearance on this SUV was low and we asked for a taller SUV, like a Jeep. Enterprise told us they’d find us one. They never did.
Anyways, I ran my survey like normal, this was survey 28 of 30. However, one of my points has been giving me grief all season. There is a gate I have to go through to get to point 32. This gate is supposed to have a combination lock, and it instead has two padlocks on it. Sometimes the gate is unlocked, sometimes it’s open, sometimes it’s closed and locked. I am supposed to have access, and many times this season I couldn’t get in. On days when it’s locked, I have to walk to the point, do the survey and walk back. This takes about 30 minutes, and I lose a lot of time if I have to walk to the point. Mostly, I can’t complete all of the surveys if I lose that much time.
Recently this gate has been used for a logging entrance (there are signs verifying that), and the gate has been open for weeks. Until Saturday. It was locked, and I had to walk. So today I wanted to make sure I got to that gate after 9am, so the forestry operation would have time to open it.
I got there a little after 9 and the gate was open! Brilliant! I drove through and….BAM! I hit something! Never saw it, but I heard it and felt it on the undercarriage of the car. I got to the point, got out and I noticed a very strong smell of gasoline. I looked and looked for a leak under the car and didn’t find one. I thought since it was a logging entrance and a lot of trucks were coming through, maybe I was smelling a logging truck.
I finished the survey and moved on to the next, and I noticed the gasoline smell didn’t go away. And now, the check engine light was one. And the needle on the fuel gauge was dropping rapidly. I had a gas leak!
I decided to stop surveying and get the car back to Enterprise. I thought I had enough gas to get there….and I was wrong. I didn’t get halfway off the site before all of the gas leaked out. Brilliant!
I called my boss in Vermont and she wasn’t worried at all, said these things happen; it’s part of field work. She told me to call Enterprise, get it towed and they’ll get me in another car. Perfect. Except, I didn’t really know where I was. I mean, I knew where I was, but I couldn’t direct someone to get to me. The roads are all dirt roads with no names, and there aren’t really any identifying features. The road next to the soybean field could be anywhere. Luckily, I was on a main road that the farmers use, and one stopped and told me I was on “Sandy Road” (Really? Why didn’t I think of that! Every road is sand/dirt/gravel! Of course it’s Sandy Road). He also gave me a towing company’s name who would know where I was.
So I called Enterprise at about 10. I told them what happened, and they told me they’d call back. At 10:30 I called again, and they said they were working on it. When I didn’t hear from them by 11:30, I called again. And they told me I could call a towing company! Um…why didn’t they tell me that an hour before?
The tow truck got there about 30 minutes later. The driver turned the key in the rental car 3/4 of the way to put it in neutral, and I saw the gas leak. Gas was spewing from underneath the driver’s seat! Great. The tow driver took the car and gave me a ride to the Chevy dealership, where Enterprise picked me up and took me back to their office.
I thought it was over. But, no. They didn’t have another rental car for me. Granted, I was being specific (SUV, truck or Jeep with high clearance and 4 wheel drive), but I called at 10 am and told them what I needed. It’s now 1:30. So my coworker picked me up, and I got back to the apartment at 2pm.
The problem was, I still had my afternoon survey to run, and my coworkers needed the rental car this evening for their bat surveys. I called my boss, and she said to find another rental company and get a 24 hour rental. Which didn’t work out, either. There isn’t another rental company in Elizabeth City. I called Enterprise twice more and they still had nothing.
My only option was using my own car. And I wasn’t thrilled with this option. Remember how many tires I went through in Arkansas? But, I know the roads and the ones I drive in the afternoon aren’t nearly as bad as the morning surveys. So I decided to take my car, and I had no problems (phew!). However, I refuse to use my car for the morning surveys, especially now that it’s supposed to rain for three days and all the roads get nasty.
So, I guess tomorrow I will be hounding Enterprise until they get us another vehicle. Oh, and I only have 2 surveys left. I’m leaving a week from today. This would happen right at the end of field season! Gotta love Murphey’s Law.
