Sleeping in my Car

More about my time in Boise later.

I arrived pretty much on time at Oakland airport and the economy lot shuttle dropped me off at my car before 10 pm. The shuttle driver waited for me to find my keys and get in my car, the economy lot at the Oakland Airport is not the safest place in the world, and it took me a few minutes to realize that I have turned in my car key to the rental car attendant with the rental car key. The keys to my car are in Boise, Idaho and the spare key is at Dad's in Paso Robles.

When I put the rental car key chain on my regular key chain, I could hear Frank's voice in my head telling me not to do that because I will forget and turn in my car key with the rental one. I chose to ignore that voice. I can be stubborn that way. What is that voice? Common sense? The voice that knows my limitations? All day on Thursday I was annoyed because I kept trying to use my car device to unlock the rental car and it didn't work. The universe trying to tell me to SEPARATE THE KEYS!

I explain what I did to the shuttle driver, tell her I am calling AAA, and she moves on, but checks on me every time she drives by. I have a Toyota Prius, it's all electronic, there is no real key, just an electronic device that unlocks the car and just needs to be in the vicinity of the car for me to start it with a button. The car will not lock with the keys in it, which is a great feature, but the rest of the electronicness is not. I call Dollar Rental Car, the sales guy calls me back later and says the car has been rented out again and my key is probably in their lost and found, which opens at 8 am tomorrow and he gives me the number. AAA can get me into my car, but cannot start it. AAA cannot call a locksmith to come and make a key, because there is no key! AAA comes, unlocks the car, the driver shows me how to unlock it from the inside and helps me get my person and my stuff in it, but I cannot unlock all the doors, I cannot lower the windows, so I cannot get out of the car and shut the door, or I will be locked out again. Mom had an emergency service contract with Toyota, but the card for it is in the car, so now that I am in the car, I get the card and call them. They tell me I have to have the car towed to a Toyota dealer and the dealer makes a new key. He gives me the name and number of the nearest Toyota dealer. I call the Toyota dealer and their service department opens at 7 am. By now is 11 pm.

In between this, I call Dad and my brother Dave, who lives in San Francisco. Dad is not too excited about driving 7 hours to and from Oakland to bring me my spare key, but he will. He also reminds me that this is part of the adventure. Oh, yea, this is an adventure, it's not a problem or a crisis or an excuse to be angry. This helped me change my attitude. What if everything we experience was just another part of an adventure? Would our outlook on life, or our attitude be different? Dave is up and I can stay with him in SF, but Dave doesn't have a car, I will have to get from Oakland to SF at 11 pm on my own. Once I am in my car, I call Dave back to give him an update and tell him I am just going to stay in my car overnight.

One thing about being somewhat homeless is that you end up partly living out of your car (if you have one.) My emergency backpack, that is usually in my apartment, is in my car. This has toilet paper, candles, waterproof matches, a medical kit, a box of energy bars, a pocket knife, and a rope. I've been meaning to add an axe, but haven't got to it yet. I also have a gallon jug of water, a down sleeping bag, and hiking boots. I have the stuff from my trip, including toothpaste and toothbrush, a cooler with more water, Gatorade, a pop top can of Mandarin oranges, trail mix, a real orange, and a towel I stole from the Boise hotel. I am ready for Armageddon and an overnight stay in my car. Dave asked what will you do if you need to pee? After that I stopped drinking water, but I did need to pee by about 1 am, and I won't describe how I took care of this except that I am adding an empty jar with a lid to my emergency supplies. (And a pillow.)

I did sleep a few hours after the shuttle stopped going by every 15 minutes and woke up before 5 am. I felt pretty safe in my car, trying to break in will set off the alarm, and I now know it could not be driven even if anyone could break in. It was cold and I was warm in the sleeping bag with my head covered, hiding, just an empty sleeping bag in the back seat. I would have really liked a cup of coffee. At 6 am I called AAA for a tow. The tow truck driver was there within 15 minutes. I watched a towing master get my car on and off a flat bed tow truck without being able to put the car in neutral (shifter is electronic, too.) To unload the car at the Toyota dealer he angled the flat bed, dismantled all the safety chains, and shimmied the flat bed to shimmy my car down the ramp. I was impressed. The Toyota dealer was 2.2 miles from the airport and tow was free.

It took the Toyota dealer 2 1/2 hours and $310 to make a new key. First there is a key part that unlocks the car, then there is a computerized part generated from the Toyota mainframe in LA that starts the car. My old keys are now no good and reprogramming those will cost $135 each. Fortunately, they finished before I could trade my Prius for a used 4Runner with real keys. The Toyota dealer was One Toyota of Oakland and they were great. The key maker explained what is involved in making a new key and that most of this trouble is the result of making Toyota harder to steal. The Camry was the #1 most stolen car in the 1980s and today it is as secure as a Mercedes.

So, Dave asked me what I thought the message was in all this. I think there were several. I need to listen to the voice that knows my limitations. I need to spend more time in the adventure and less time focused on the goal or destination. I live in the future, in the destination, I forget to enjoy what is around me. When I was in the adventure, people were more interesting, more helpful, and nicer than I expected. I also need to let go of the fear of not having enough money. I did not have anywhere to be, Dad is taking care of my cats, so what was I initially angry about? Spending money on something I don't want to spend money on. But I had the money, I am just worried about not having enough money in the future, so there I am in the future, the destination again.

I am now back safely at Dad's, looking forward to a good night's sleep and dreaming of a 2004 Toyota 4Runner with an old fashioned key and no electronic extras.