More tales of some not so exotic travels...

As last mentioned in my January newsletter "The Mixed Media Chronicles" I promised to entertain you this month with a little redneck incident involving Steve while in Sarasota last November. 

Now Steve generally comes across as pretty laid back and a happy guy most of the time.  But when the Alabama in him surfaces I usually hide in another room, or at least pretend I have no idea who he is.  Almost 25 years of marriage now and this strategy continues to work well for me.  Seems like I rely on this approach more often now than , oh say 10-15 years ago in the earlier days of wedded bliss, but we'll save that for a future blog.

A laid back Steve during happier times!  With Veronique Stalmans, Rabat, Morocco!

After a nice weekend exhibiting our art at St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota we ended up with a delivery on Monday morning out on Longboat Key (hi Jo Ann, hi Ed!).  A morning spent hanging two of our paintings in this very pretty home was a great way to wrap up our art show weekend.  Finishing that, we headed to the Columbia Restaurant for a fabulous Cuban lunch, then off to the art store with plans of heading back to Naples soon after..

That's not what happened.

Leaving from the art store with our cargo trailer attached to the jeep we pulled out into three lanes of busy Sarasota traffic, only to have the car quit running while it was in lanes one and two, and the trailer still in the parking lot.  It wasn't a mere three seconds later before cars started honking, yelling at us to move our car.  We would love to have obliged them, but it's not possible when THE CAR IS NOT RUNNING!  I know it appeared that we had just decided to park perpendicularly in the middle of three lanes of traffic and get out of our car and stand there on the curb to have a little chat on the phone.  Really, doesn't everyone do that once in awhile?

Although the engine was in fact still running (we found out later the shifter cable snapped so we could not put it in gear in order to move) there was nothing we could do until AAA arrived and had to configure some very tricky towing due to the fully loaded trailer still attached.

Lots of people were quite helpful driving by, suggesting very loudly with their windows rolled down that we get the &%$#@%* car moved out of the way.  I don't know why we didn't think of that! 

Steve was getting madder by the minute.  Not only frustrated at the predicament that we were in, but also that people were so rudely yelling at us.  He was getting very testy, and soon was yelling back at anyone kind enough to make those comments to us.  And he was using the same kind of language too, just so they could all, you know, relate and be on the same page.

Finally I had to start yelling too - partly to defend Steve, and partly at Steve trying to get him to calm down.  Which of course had him snapping back at me.  It was quite the fun afternoon if I do say so myself!

Knowing that AAA was on their way gave Steve some peace of mind and a little extra redneck bravado, knowing that if he really let loose we would be saved soon and out of there shortly.  Unfortunately, the last person to experience his full-fledged rage (and I'm on Steve's side - she deserved it!), was a well-dressed, bouffant haired, manner-less woman in her seventies driving by in her convertible BMW.  She decided to let loose a barrage of scathing commentary about how we were parked and Steve lost it.  He went running towards her, yelling loudly and angrily, and gave the appearance that he was going to jump in her car and give her "what fer!".  This scared the bajeebers out of her as this crazed lunatic headed her way, arms waving in the air as if he was suddenly Italian.  She floored her car, bouffant flattening in the wind like a dog riding with it's head out the window, and she was out of there. 

It was one moment later when AAA showed up which was good for all of us, and Sarasota in general.  We got to spend another night there waiting on our part to be delivered the next day.  And we were forced to rent a minivan which in Steve's world was kin to living in the suburbs with a white picket fence, 2.4 kids, a dog and an empty revolver.  I thought he was going to cry.

So, it's not Morocco, but it was an adventure!  Bravely we went back to Sarasota again at the end of January for another show and I am happy to report we had sales and were incident free!  I guess all's well that ends well!