Alpharetta - Monday - Home (for real this time)

The repair shop called fairly early this morning and said that the problem with the Tahoe was, indeed, the fuel pump, and that they should have the problem fixed by noon. We went back to the Waffle House for breakfast. As there was very little to do or see in the immediate neighborhood (our motel was situated between a hospital and the University of Alabama), we went back to our room to watch TV and wait for the repair shop to call.


Just before noon, the call came in. The motel shuttle bus took us to the repair shop. We were so happy to see the Tahoe moving under its own power. We asked the mechanic for directions to the interstate, hopped in, and Joel cranked up. Then Joel noticed that our gas tank was only half full.

Now, you might remember that yesterday we had filled the tank about 30 minutes before the fuel pump died. We knew that the repair shop had needed to empty the gas tank to get to the fuel pump, and we expected that they would lose/spill a little gas in the process. But half a tank? No way. “It’s the principle of the thing,” Joel said, climbing back out of the truck to talk to the shop manager. A few minutes later, Joel came to my window. The technician who had worked on the Tahoe was at lunch but would be back in 15 minutes, and we were going to wait for his explanation. As it turned out, the technician did not know what had happened to our gas (yeah, sure), but they’d fill our tank for us. Another 10 minutes, and we were finally on the road.

We drove the interstate, what they’re currently referring to as “Corridor X” because it is not yet finished, from Birmingham to Holly Springs, Mississippi. We could have gone all the way to Memphis, but when we realized that we would be hitting south Memphis at rush hour, Joel said for me to get out the map and find us another way home. At Holly Springs, we got off the interstate and took a country road that would take us due north, through fields and farms, just the kind of driving we enjoy, and so calming after maneuvering among the 18-wheelers.

At the Tennessee state line, I zoomed in on the map and found a road through Fayette County – through Piperton and Hickory Withe - that would take us nearly to the Tipton County line and avoid almost all of the rush-hour traffic. As it turned out, our back-roads route was both shorter and quicker; we made it from Holly Springs, MS to home in about an hour and a half!