Well, I am sitting in the waiting room at my Ford Dealer and this time, they are taking a look at my truck to see why the Bluetooth and GPS System only works spasmodically. As I have mentioned many times in previous blogs, listening to Audiobooks is one of my favorite pastimes. I always use the Bluetooth system to have my I-Phone play through the speaker system on the truck and usually, the system works very well.

A couple of weeks ago, the level of consistency dropped considerably and the Bluetooth started to lose signals causing a very disjointed playback. At first I thought that it might be the I-Phone as mine is an older model even though it is loaded with the latest software but it suits my needs very well. I took it to my ATT store and they ran a few checks and told me the phone is just fine. Back in the truck, I began to have problems with the GPS system as well as in just making the Audiobook connections and so I knew it was time to make yet another trip to Covert Ford which is located a little over 20 miles from my house. To get to it means travelling up a super highway affectionately known as Mopac to the locals, which during regular daytime hours is the second most heavily traveled road in Austin with IH35 as the busiest. During rush hour, this road is bumper to bumper with the traffic crawling along at a stop and go rate.If ever there is a wreck, then you can almost guarantee lots of sitting in place in the middle of hundreds of vehicles all with their engines running  and polluting the atmosphere. Not a great place to be. Mopac, also known as Loop 1, connects the North end of town to the South end and has just undergone a major rebuilding from Town Lake almost all the way to West Anderson Lane. This has improved the situation dramatically.

Monday morning rolled around as if by clockwork and I made a big effort and got up at 6:00 am which to me is an ungodly and unhealthy hour to be awake. I was out of the house by 6:30 am and on the road. To my surprise, there was hardly any traffic on the road compared to later in the day and I made the trip to Covert in no time flat and was fifth in line. They open at 7:00 am and are usually very busy almost all day long in their service areas.

My Service Adviser is a young lady who goes by the name of Whitney and she took down all of the details. I thought that I would be leaving the truck with them while I waited in the Lounge Area writing this blog but it turned out that because it is a Factory Warranty Item, Whitney had to wait for paperwork to come through before going forward with the repair and that she would call me as soon as it does.

So, I drove home and was going in the opposite direction to the early morning rush hour traffic and made good time. I was greeted at the door by two very excited little dogs with the third one out in the yard who also made a big fuss of me when I went out to check the ponds. Now if only my wives had been this affectionate…

The following day, Whitney called and we set up an appointment for the next day which was a Wednesday. Again, I made the tremendous effort and dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6:00 am and was back up at Covert Ford by 7:00 am. I handed the truck keys over to Whitney and settled in with my Surface Tablet to write this blog. Since my last trip, Covert has installed a new fancy coffee machine that dispenses all kids of coffee drinks. I went with my usual Latte as I settled down to write this blog.

An hour later, Whitney walked in and said that “They have finished on the “discovery” part of the work and that they were going to have to order the part which would take a couple of days and I will call you to set up the next appointment”. She also explained that the next part of the work to actually install the part would only take 45 minutes which was good news. I have never been to Covert Ford and been in and out in 45 minutes so I am a little dubious that it will be that short.

I packed up all of my stuff and made the journey back home and again and as I was going in the opposite direction to the rush hour, made good time. Again, I was greeted at the door by the same little dogs as before only this time all three of them gave me a cheerful welcome home.

So here I am at home continuing to work on the the most recent events with the ongoing saga of “Me and Life at Covert Ford”.