The first week Tim went through ARG training. Meet, greet, qualify, shake hands, be assertive. One week spent in a hotel room (this was the beginning of many weeks away from the family)
First day on the floor Tim now tells me he was scared as hell. He shook hand of a young girl that was with her parents. They were looking for a $200 a month car with $3,000 down. Walked the whole lot didn’t like anything. A salesman named Mike Smith came over shook their hands asked 3-4 questions and walked through the whole dealership. Walked up to a car that was in a show room near Tim’s desk and says, “here it is” 2 door Sunfire. Tim took them on a test drive. They loved the car. Second pencil was signed at 250 a month. Deal was a split. Tim’s commission was $570. That was the beginning of the end!!! Life as I knew it stopped and life as a Car Wife began…….
Day 2
White lady black man walked into the dealership….In Maine (yes, there is a point that is non raciest) walked straight to a Mercedes Convertible. Everyone in the show room laughed. Tim walked over shakes hands. Lady stated it was a present for her husband. Fifteen minutes later. Lady rights a check for $87,620.00 all the salesmen laughed until the read the name on the check. Turns out it was Tabatha King, wife of Steven King!!! Commission was $2745.00. Full sticker plus 10k bump. (Car lingo that I have learned as I have grown in the business)
Tim’s first check got rid of 1980 Cavalier Wagon that burned 2 qts of oil every 15 miles for Olds Cutlass Supreme! His parent’s trade in we bought thought we were styling. (This began our son’s love for high end cars will explain later on down the road) The monster was created in less than 48 hrs.

Bill Dodge

Tim later advanced to Bill Dodge as a salesman. He was told at one point he would only be a salesman and there was no room for advancement. I remember this conversation we had about how he was going to prove them wrong. Watching the determination in his eyes and hearing the tone of his words, I knew he would. He was hell bent from that conversation on, to make it his life’s mission. He was going to prove not only the person that said that to him, but to every person in his life that said he wouldn’t amount to anything.


I listened intently to the conversation. I “heard” between the lines what this meant. It meant a lot of sacrifices and concessions I would have to make for my husband.

Bill Dodge had a female sales manager named Lori. This girl was beyond beautiful. She was half Spanish and half Italian. It was so hard not to be jealous of this woman. Not only was she drop dead beautiful, she was smart and in my opinion was everything I wasn't. To add to my insecurities Tim also would stay at her house when they had sales. I never ever expressed to him about any of my feelings. I trusted him as my husband to be faithful. That was a given and thankfully, I did not have to worry about infidelity unlike most women within this business, but I still had my insecure moments, but kept it in check. During the time at Bill Dodge our son’s asthma was severe and our daughter was a living nightmare on two feet. Thankfully she was cute! The hours in this business makes for a lonely life as a wife. Long hours, no time off, and if there was time off there was the guilt of not being at work because of the loss of a sale and money. It was a losing battle.

I didn’t put demands on him and accepted it was what it was. That was a huge mistake on my part. If your husband is so focus and driven by his job and has a mission in life to prove people wrong and you don’t speak up. You are an idiot as I have been.

You lose the balance and the 50/50ness of a marriage. It becomes a division. He does the work and provides and I do the rest. This puts my husband on the outside of his life looking in and for Tim that was hard for him. He takes pride in being a good dad and a good husband. It was my job to make sure he maintained his status within the family. Not an easy task, but I did it.

At some point in this position it became clear Tim was stagnating and going nowhere and it was time to make a change. We moved to Watertown, NY and he began a long bitter sweet career at Fuccillio Automall.

We are now Grandparents!!!

Aubrinna Jade Smith

I know I am jumping around a bit, but I couldn't resist adding our little peanut into this story.....

This is our son Corey and Kasha with Bri after she was born. Sadly my husband was in North Carolina working so he missed the delivery. He came up to Maine a few weeks after she was born.....This is something that is second nature to our family, but it sucks all the same!!!

Here is Papa with our Aubrinna (Bri) This man has been a great father and will be the most amazing Grandfather any child could ever have......

  

September 13 Happy Birthday to Kasha Jade Pendergast

Today is our daughter's 19th birthday.....in honor of this day, I am adding some pictures of her. She has done commercials for one of the dealerships her dad worked at. On the weekends he would bring one of the kids to work with him. As a 4 year old, Kasha was able to answer the phones and handle business....LOL. While her brother Corey would go out and check out the trades and give his dad his opinion. Happy Birthday Kasha!!!

Fave picture of my Hubby

One thing I learned through the years. You got to take time and stop to enjoy the little things or life as you know it gets lost. This has been one of my most important rolls as a Car Wife. This will make more sense as you read on......

It's been a while~

Almost a year to the day I am back writing. This past year has been filled with joy, agony, and finally, back to where it all began. The long story short is years in the business took it's toll on our family and our marriage. It has taking two long painful years to finally put us back to where we started. Through the process we discovered that our love is way stronger than we both gave it credit for. See in this business we are unique because we are together and happily married. Most of these guys claim to be like us, all the while they are screwing some bimbo in the office. Sense I am the manager's wife and the hours that is worked we pretty much hang out with the people within the dealership. This is a double edge sword if you will because of my husband, I end up getting to know the other guys very well. They then introduce me to their wives. Sounds not so bad. Well, to be honest its the most annoying thing to me because I usually know about the affairs these guys are having. I then have to look the wife in the face and thinking the whole time about the girl code thing. Well, once I get to know the wives that theory goes out the window as I want to slit my wrist having to waste a moment with these bitches. Needless to say they make me look almost saintly. LOL. I just don't understand why woman "bite the hand that feeds them"

Back again~Fuccillo Auto Mall

The love/hate relationship of this business began when my husband worked at Fuccillio's in Watertown, NY. This is where I figured out the car business as being this battle of good and evil. Living in Upstate was quaint. Tim's family was from there so moving was a family affair. His grandparents and mother came with us so they could visit the family and get us settled. Our kids were little and the ride was long, but having been seasoned movers (yes, sad, but true) we had another "adventure" this time Papa and Mimmy would keep them entertained telling the kids the brown cows gave them chocolate milk and the hay wrapped in plastic were marshmallows. The best trick Mim did with them was to create a story of being in a jungle and they had to look for animals. Of course Kasha always found what they were looking for and Corey would have to be the voice of reality of it's a game and so on. Kasha lived in her own little world which was an amazing place to be. She had imaginary friends that entertained her for hours. Before we left her Smurf/Squirrel friend Susie was missing. She couldn't find her any ware. I was helping her look for Susie, until Corey told her he killed her because she was annoying. We finally got settled into our house and our Neighbor's dog Sundance was soon to befriends with Kasha. We lived in a town outside of Watertown and it seemed to take hours to get into town. Tim worked in Adams a bit closer to home but the down side to that is, you can stop off for a drink more times than you can get a gallon of milk.
The store was open at 8am and closed when the last customer left which was always after 8pm 7days a week. This was before the Internet, Facebook, unlimited calling, and it it snowed in October! I became a married widow. We did have some really great times going over with a bunch of people in the dealerships to Grindstone. You had to boat over and the island was perfect for kids to just be kids. Soon after the kids would go to Maine and it was just Tim and I. We lived next door to the library so I was a reading fool. I would take up to 4 books with me and read them all. I have to say it was nice. I became friends with a woman that all the islanders were surprised because she usually kept to her self. That was one of the few woman I actually became friends with during this time. We had another couple that we would hang with. He was great, but she would drink a box of wine and turn into this evil woman that actually her husband named and it was bad at times. Somewhere along the way, I discovered it was easier just being by myself than having to deal with these bitches.
Soon after we settled in the chance for Tim to manage a store came up. He took it and moved a week before Christmas to Clifton Park, NY. We land there and Tim had to go to work first thing. Saying he would be back. Noon time came and Kasha was about ready to eat my ankles. One thing you didn't get in the way of is her eating. I had to go to the neighbors and call him to remind him of his other life and that we needed him for a few moments of his day. (yes, sarcastic tone I am using.) He comes back with a salesman and they start to unload the truck. They dropped everything in the middle of the living room, brought lunch, and left. You have no idea how mad I was. To the point that I unpacked the whole place like we lived there for years and cooked a pot roast during this time. Tim did come home at a reasonable time, but that was short lived. Corey was severely asthmatic and I had to take him to the doctors. We rarely owned a car due to having a demo, but that meant I couldn't drive either. Tim dropped us off mid winter at the doctors. He told me to call him because he had to get back to work. No big deal. Well, I called, he got busy and forgot to pick us up. The office closed for lunch for an hour. Did I say it was winter? I got a hold of my husband and being the perfecter of delegation he sent a salesman to get us home. Me being the great car wife did not make a scene. Thanked the strange person that drove us home and said not a word of how I felt. Sometimes silence says it louder than anything and giving credit where it's due. He isn't an idiot, just slow at times, but when he gets it. Game on......
 I can go on for days raving about the good and bad of this experience, but I will sum it up by saying. I did what we agreed I would do. I stepped back and let him do what he needed to do. As a result he is where he is today because of the pact we made and because of all he learned and accomplished with Fuccillio.

Penske

Why The Black Ribbon?

Melanoma means "black tumor"

Black is the color of the warrior's mood when going into battle and the melanoma patient is in the battle for life

Black is our rage when we consider the lack of progress and lack of research funding going on after 25 years of the so-called "War On Cancer"

We moved to New Bern, NC for Tim's Finance Director Job for Penske. This was a sweet job. We had a brand new house in a little town in New Burn called River Bend. We lived on a Golf Course, and I don't  think played hardly at all. This job was the best by far. We had great benefits, pretty okay hours life was good. I had a great friend Pam that I still talk to and Kasha was friends with her girls (still is). Kasha and I went to the best little church close to our house. I did know who was screwing around with who, but I got to the point that I just didn't care and was used to not having close friends in this business. So it was what it was. Yet, when we would hang out with this couple, I often wondered why? I never understood how a man that would gag me with the attention, conversation, and so on to his wife, could sleep with another woman. The concept escaped me and to this day that is an unanswered question.
During our time with Penske we were able to take the kids to concerts and hockey games and did have more family time. The problem is we were faced with Corey and school. A straight A student was failing and he just was struggling with the black kids in school. They made his life miserable. We ended up pulling him out of public school and put him in private. We were struggling with the great job and choosing what to do in the best interest of our kids. Well, after a lot of prayer and discussion with Tim and I. God took control of this situation. I was diagnosed with stage 3 Melanoma. We weren't sure what was going to happen and everyone was freaking out. I knew I was going to be okay and went into taking care of my family mode. I went under the Sunbelt study and had a Centenal Lymph Node dissection and my leg now looks like a shark ate it. The further course of treatment was to be Chemo due to having still positive cancer cells in my body. Thank God my lymph nodes were clear. Tim ended up resigning at Penske and taking us back to Maine to be closer to family. This was totally against my wish and I hated every minute of this, but in the best interest of our son, I moved.
Cancer Care of Maine consulted with my NC Doctor and a specialist in Mass decided that I would maintain on going doctor's care vs Chemo. I have been cancer free 10 years.



I hated to leave my friend and my church. Through Facebook I have reconnected with my friend, but have yet to find my home in a church as I did there. I just found they have a Facebook page and a website with Pod cast...That is so Cool!~

Labor Day 2005

 This weekend is the worst weekend of our lives.......Our son fell 12ft on his head while visiting his friends before going back to school.
Tim had decided to take a break and get out of the dealership settings. He had a team and went on the road doing mailer sales. This actually was great. He was gone a week home a week or gone two home one...depending on how many sales were available and where they would be. That was a good fit for us because it didn't matter where we lived. We decided to go back to Maine. Corey could be back with his friends and Kasha could finish school in Tim's or my home town. We found a house on a lake in Tim's home town and that put us 30 min to my family. During this time we decided to finally get married after a 20 years of dating. We went to the Magistrates office in Newton, NC and we had Kasha and her friend's mother. We had to bribe the little brother of her friends to keep quiet. Our wedding party consisted of people in Orange and bracelets. It didn't matter to us as long as we were married. We then headed to Maine with Kasha, our cat, and dog...that was our honeymoon.
We got there and it for once it felt like home. One thing about Tim and I is we have a love hate relationship with this state. Family came and we started to unpack. Corey's friends came to grab him for the last weekend before school started. That night we got a call that Corey was going to the ER. Didn't think much of it because nothing was said and the last time that happened. He needed 14 stitches in his ear from ripping his earring out of his ear. So, we were thinking broken leg or something minor.

We had to switch cars because we weren't unloaded yet. Finally what seemed forever we got signal and I called one of the friends. He told us Corey fell and I kept asking him details and he was vague. I heard something in his voice that told me it wasn't okay. The guys just kept telling us to GET TO THE ER. Tim, Kasha, and I just looked at each other. I got a hold of the hospital and the ambulance wasn't there yet...they told us Life Flight was on stand by. I have grown up around the emergency field and I knew it wasn't good. We got to the hospital and we were met by someone that said the doctor will be with you shortly. That is where there should have been some dramatic music like in the movies. The doctor came out and told us the surgeon was on his way and it didn't look good. We called my in-laws and my parents. Both of our father's worked in the same paper mill. Tim's father was there and my father was to go in. My father in-law left soon after getting the call and made it home and to the hospital under an hour. Keeping in mind it was 30 min to get home and an hour give or take to get to where the hospital was. My parents were a bit slower because my mother didn't comprehend what I was saying due to taking a sleeping pill. My dad over heard part of the conversation and had called back the ER. I was fine until I heard his voice and lost it. Sobbing to the point of being inconsolable the nurse took the phone and filled him in. They were on their way. Going back to sit with Tim and Kasha I remember looking around hearing the doctor pages, the cart noises, the voices everything jumbled together and it was just a big blur. Sitting there I am watching his friends. He has had these same friends sense he was in the 6th grade. Didn't matter where we moved to. They always remained stead fast and true to each other. They are the reason our son is alive. His friends saved him by doing all the right things. The doctor's come out and told us that he had a Basil skull fracture, temporal fracture, and some minor cracks that actually made it so he didn't need surgery. They had explained that he was intabated and still had blood coming out of his ears, but wanted to know if we wanted to see him. I knew what that all meant and I tried to tell Tim to wait, but he didn't. He came out after seeing him and two of Corey's friends had to catch him. The noise that came out of Tim was one I will never forget. The friends waited until they new he was going into CCU and one by one left. His best friend waited with us until he could see him. As a mother your heart breaks for your own situation, but for me it was twice as hard watching as his friends having to process this, start school, go on with their life while we didn't know what we were going to have once Corey woke up. I have to say that moment I saw just how amazing Kasha Kasha and Tim would go home and would come back when she was out of school.
 While Corey was in CCU Dr Posey had to leave due to family being in Hurricane Katrina. The doctor that took his place felt that it was okay to send Corey home, but we had to watch for pages and pages of things that could have happened. Not taking into consideration he had just been awake only two days we were having this conversation. That did not settle well with me. I got a hold of Dr Posey's nurse and demanded they handle this nonsense. He was put on the main floor waiting to go to the trauma center the next day. This was ignorant on someones part and I let it be known. Corey was deaf in one ear. They kept talking to him on that side, his diet was not for one that just smashed his head and side of his face on concrete, the noise level pushed me over the edge and someone with a massive head injury I could only imagine. I had to tell Corey, who still didn't know who I was, to sleep on his good ear. At one point I went out and asked the nurses if they would like the f-ing cliff notes because they were not up on what was going on and they'd best be before they step foot in his room again. Called CCU and asked them why they sent us to the zoo~ The next morning getting things in place for his transfer I left Corey with one of his friends and left the room. She came out to get me and in turn Corey went missing. He had ripped out his IV tubes and took himself to the bath room. The CNA for the head trauma center actually found him. That was the last straw for me. I couldn't be the patient's mother. I had to be the patients Bitch of a mother and trust me there was no room for error as far as I was concerned. They started sending in damage control and it was a joke. Then oddly enough the charge nurse came and and remembered Tim in CCU with Corey and that is where I expressed what should be done and needs to be done. She said I was helpful. Go freaking figure......Get to the trauma center and there didn't have the room the way CCU had so we had to police our selves with visitation. The Bitchy charge nurse was annoyed at all the visitors Corey had and tried to put a limit on his visitors to the point of 5 min or something like that on the door. I took it down brought it to her and asked her to show me where the doctor has an order for such nonsense. There wasn't and she then warned us that she was off for the weekend and she would be checking on Monday to see what a circus we have caused so she could talk to the doctor. HAHA all the staff praised us all for how we maintained. We were told that the Phazyatrist (spelling) would follow us through his recovery. Nope she discharged him after his follow-up and told him to graduate and go to college oh and don't lay around. OMG really!!! Corey doesn't remember life until almost October. We got home and the first thing Tim had Corey do is play his guitar. He did and that was a blessing. But, the rest was a nightmare. We had nothing in place that was for a head injury and nobody seemed to know what to do. I kept researching and calling on different agencies for days on end to the point of driving my self crazy. The only doctor I could depend on was his primary doctor. Finally we got him into the intragrated rehab center that specializes with head injuries and that was a start.  While this was going on Corey's behavior was getting too much for me to handle. It got so bad that Kasha would have to snap him out of it. The way he treated me was like the way an abusive husband treats their wife. He wasn't violent or inappropriate so that was a good thing, just mouthy that never ended. Tim was in a situation where does he leave and do a sale or does he stay and take care of his family? This business has no tolerance for taking care of your self or your family. It is all about selling cars and making money. Sometimes even the owners are so greedy they don't care if the ones that are working for you make money as long as they do. Never in my husband's career have I ever told him what I wanted or needed. I just sat back and let him make the choices and I would just go with it. That was a huge mistake on my part because this is my life too and looking back I should have been the voice of reason. I am an outsider looking in and yet, living it. So I have two votes that I should have used. Tim had set in place a good friend to fill in while we were taking care of our family. We decided with the help of our parents he could go on the road just it would be less of a schedule. When the time came that Tim could go back on the road and take back the team. The good friend told him he could go back on a trial basis and work under him and for less money. I did say friend right? Right then and there Tim saw what I have seen for quite some time and in that very moment chose his family over this business. Financially it broke us, but life wise it was one of the best times of our life. We had a house full of life and new beginnings. Corey was recovering, but with the recovery came a lot of quirks and painful headaches. At one point he had a pill for a symptom A pill for a side effect and a pill for that pill. We had doctor appointments, therapy appointments, and I was thankful for our friend. Had he not been selfish and greedy, we wouldn't have had this time as a family. With all I know of what he has done, lets just say he is lucky I was busy for the next two years. I am a believer of you reap what you sew.
Corey's friends would call or visit. Kasha was busy in school and finally Dad was there to enjoy time spend with the kids. Our door was revolving and we had a kid filled house and grandparents on the weekend. To this day Kasha's friends tell us how great it was being there with Tim cooking and building the fire or having movie night or the famous Crewperbrowl with all of Corey's friends.

 A year later Corey spent 16 days in Europe~

                                                                     Berlin

                                                                          London

                                                                     London

                                                                   Amsterdam

 

 

The lesson that we learned on Labor Day is that above all Family comes first.                                            

Welcome to Sunny Side

You have a history of where it all began and now its just going to be about where we are at or where we are going.
Tim took some mental health time for a while and when the time was right. He took a job in PA. He was brought in to run a used car store that had a few other new car stores in the company. When you walked in through the doors it was shabby without the chic, but was actually the "diamond in the ruff".
The team spirit was noticeable and it was known company wide if you messed with one of his sales people. You would be hearing from Tim. While managing, Tim is a firm believer about having fun while you work. He ran a loose show room and did not feel the need to nit pick or micro manage his team. They knew he has a thing about the way the lot looked and once they learned his way. They did it without being told. They also knew he used Yellow Balloons only and what days he wanted them out. The team quickly learned his quirks as he learned theirs and it was a great mix. I often said it was like Pooh's Corner. (personality wise).

Don't get me wrong he does get snarly at times and is very direct and to the point, but at the end of the day. That person on the other end has been brought to another level of being the best sales person he or she can be. The one person in mind is a young girl that is a few years older than our daughter. He warned her working with him is not and will not be a picnic and if she survives. She will be trained the right way. Her 3rd month there (I think give or take) she had the highest grosses in the company for the month. She sense left the company is working some place else and is a friend of our family. Another Super Star (his mind for sure) was working with Tim on the desk and learning to do other things to keep his wandering brain busy.

 The behind the scene was not as cohesive as one would have thought and as a result he and I agreed he would resign. On the outside one would think okay no big deal, but Tim resigning is a huge deal. The team he built to be a tight cohesive unit is now again without a manager that they came to depend on and more importantly trust.

Ignorance just amazes me. You have a manager that has taken a used car store to strong numbers and high grosses sense the day he got there. He broke the company records several times and made more money for that store than it has ever been made to date. Yet, the "charges" to be was trying to figure out how to cut his bonus plan after they paid him a rather large bonus. Let me break this down to cause and effect that not one owner has ever considered.
Owner changes Managers pay plan = manager works same long hours for less money = unhappy manager +unhappy wife/family+ change of life style+ inability to pay bills  =stress. The choice is do the same job with great results but go backwards financially for less pay or resign.
By resigning it causes deals bought declined+sales team make less money+not being able to pay their bills+unhappy wife/husband+stress=Stay or go.
Then you factor in the decrease of cars sold slows down service and detail which starts another whole cycle of people making less and either.
Oh and can't forget the Wholesalers....They lose money with less cars to buy from a place they bought from weekly.
They often talk about the circle of life....well this is the circle of the car business.............If it isn't broke don't flipping fix it~~~

From a woman's stand point it reminds me of the Pretty Woman movie where they wouldn't wait on her because of the way she was dressed. Then later she comes back spiffy with a fist full of money....and they then wanted to help her. She reminded them of how they treated her and reminded them they worked on commission.............and said, "Big Mistake, Huge."

Just saying.

Hitting The Road 2011

                                                ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Some times you just need to down size, regroup, and throw it all to the wind~ That is exactly what we did. We threw everything in storage. Our daughter and her family remained in Maine with family. Tim and I packed up our car, with our dog, and headed to New Mexico.Albuquerque to be exact. Yes, we drove from Maine to Albuquerque, New Mexico! A total of 2,436 miles a total of 40 hours not counting stopping.

 

The trip was more than a trip. This was the first time I was without kids. (Most mothers can relate to this.) During the time our kids were growing up. I was the primary parent. As a car wife, I was the primary parent. I did it all. So, for me, it was an actual pivotal moment. Or as Oprah says it was an Ah! Ha moment. I had to be Hayley. Trust me when I tell you. I didn't have a clue about how to be me. I was Mom. The other issue is all the years going out with the car people is a total bore for me. No offence, but y'all just talk way to much! I am home with the kids. I have zero adult interaction. (This is before internet, cell phones, and unlimited calling plans) Normally, we are in another state with no family and only friends were from the dealership. This posed to be another problem. Being the wife of the manager. I knew all the sales people's secrets. So this prevented me from having any kind of friendship with any other car wife or girlfriend because I knew way too much. I can tell you that it was not fun. I learned early on not to get too close. Nothing good would ever come out of any friendship when you know the man in the relationship is doing the secretary of the dealership. Or the husband got the sales girl pregnant and told her to have an abortion. Knowing this and understanding the girl code and how if I was the one to tell. Somehow it would be my fault kinda thing. Needless to say, I opted out of female friendship and wrapped myself around my kids.
While in Albuquerque, I loved the weather. I never met a rude person. Coming from Maine, I was impressed. Case in point. The Motel 6 that our daughter and Tim staid at while doing the last sale. The lady actually remembered them and gave us the same room. That was amazing customer service. We were ready to work a sale there and we were called to go to Roseburg, Oregon. 1486 miles 23 hours. We did an awesome sale there 1500 ups. Cool people and a great owner. After the sale was over we picked up a sale in New Port News, Virginia. 3,005 miles 50 hours minus sleep time. During this trip we passed the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas (sadly it was night) the California National Redwood Forrest, and 26 hours drive on Death Valley. (freaked us out) Hit snow storms in Wyoming. Saw beautiful natural scenery in Iowa. Missed so much of the major scenery by driving through the night because we had 2 1/2 days to get there. This was where we learned to stop at the nice truck stops and use their showers...Little travel tid bit. I also learned to check the bathroom stalls before choosing for toilet paper.

                                                          ROSEBURG, OREGON

                                                   This was at a rest area in Nevada.

.                                                   Rest area in SC. Must be a redneck!
During this trip we used the Sprint Nav on our phone. I don't know where the hell they come up with this route, but when we got to West Virginia it turned ugly!!! We went off the highway and went through the mining towns. No big deal. As we got out of town we began to see little to no life. By the time we figured out we were going into the road that would have been seen in Deliverance. It was too late to turn around. Pitch black on this old log road. Up mountains and down mountains. Going down was a nightmare! I promise you that there is no words to ever express the fear we both had during this leg of our trip. Going down the mountain it was winding with nothing on the side, but a huge bottom of darkness. If Tim had got to close to that edge. We would have plunged to our death. I have never seen fear in my husbands face, but that day I did. Thankfully for his amazing driving skills and the graces of God and whatever angels we have watching over us. We go to the bottom. I was crying. I turned around and saw this huge dark peek and had totally confirmed what we weren't saying. That was pretty flipping close! Not long after that we got to the highway. PHEW! I called Sprint and told the rep what happened and demand that route never be available for another human being again. By the time I was done she was sobbing at my story and how scary it was. Apparently the Nav people meet monthly on this kind of thing. After I got done. They were meeting the very next day.

We got to Virginia just in time to check in and shower, change, and show up. Hadn't been to sleep for about 34 hours. This trip took it's toil on Tim, especially. He had recently been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and has to sleep with a Cpap machine. Sleeping at the rest areas there was no way for him to use his machine. We would try to stop for one night in a motel for him to get a good sleep using his machine. We got to the dealership and for the most part our guy was surprised we showed up. He figured it would be the next day. There wasn't much for me to do and we had been drinking the 5 hour energy drinks to the point I was getting ill. Tim sent me back to the room. I was so tired I was fussy and felt guilty for being able to do this, but I totally didn't argue. Got back to the room with our dog and we conked. Tim came back to the room and I got his machine all set up for him and that was it for him. I don't remember even eating. I dropped him off and poked around a bit. Day 3 we were offered another account. This turned out later to be the best thing to happen in our journey. We were being sent to Corpus Christi to All Star Mitsubishi. this would be 1,605.3 mi one day and a few hours. That is what we call a Sunday drive! So total miles driven to this point is.......8532.3 miles this ended up being. That doesn't count stopping, sleeping, or eating.