May 22, 2010 – Day Fifteen

Montgomery, Alabama is in the Heart of Dixie, home to the first White House of the Confederacy as well as the Rosa Parks Museum. I’ve been coming here since Thanksgiving 1969, right after I met Marianne while we both worked in Yellowstone National Park.

Montgomery is also home to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, a world-class Shakespearian theater. Marianne’s mom, Helen, had a couple tickets to the current production of Hamlet, but we needed three tickets, so she got us box seats overlooking the stage.

But first I needed to get an oil change for my F-250 diesel truck. I called one of the local Ford dealers wondering if they were open on a Saturday, and if I had any chance of getting an oil change. “Come on in,” was the service manager’s reply, “we should be able to get you in and out in less than an hour.” That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!

I dropped Marianne and the dogs off at her mom’s house, promising to be back in time to go to the 2:00 showing of the play. “To be or not to be,” has always been my mantra.

I arrived at Stiver’s Ford shortly after 10am and they were having their grand opening sale. The dealership was formerly known a Montgomery Ford, but was recently taken over by this new group. And since it was their grand opening, they were giving away BBQ sandwiches, soft drinks, balloons and cotton candy. But best of all they were giving a 25% discount on all parts and service!

It turned out that they charged $150 for an oil change, about 40% more than I was used to paying in SoCal. I was heartbroken, but then I cheered up when I discovered that they were also offering a phenomenal deal on tires, even before the 25% off. My truck’s BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A’s were looking pretty sad, so I elected to get in on their sale, and get the exact same tires again.

For the next three and three-quarter hours I sat in their waiting room updating this blog, and getting phone calls from Marianne asking me when I’d be ready. I tried to explain to the service manager that I had a date with Hamlet; he looked at me kind of funny, he was more interested in learning about the kayaks on top of my truck.  It turned out that this was only the second Saturday this dealership was open to do service work,  and they were really not geared for the onslaught of people taking advantage of their new working hours and the 25% discount.

Shortly after 1pm I spoke to Marianne and told her that instead of going to her mom’s house and all of us driving together to the theater, I would meet them there. They would leave my tickets at will call.

Finally at about 1:45 they had my truck and invoice ready, but I had seen a poster proclaiming that if I bought four Goodrich tires I was eligible for a $50 rebate. It took them another 10 minutes to look for the rebate form, and when they couldn’t find it, they searched on the Internet, found it and printed up a copy for me.

I now had to rush to the Alabama Shakespeare Theater arriving 25 minutes after the play had started, I was dressed in shorts with a T-shirt – California casual. An usher now lead me through a maze in total darkness to our box. I felt like Helen Keller (another Alabamian) in a room where the furniture had been rearranged. I groped my way behind him and his dim flashlight and arrived during the graveyard scene so the theater was darkened. I couldn’t even see if it really was Marianne in the seat next to me.

I knew a little about Hamlet, since back in Mr. Schrag’s English class we read the play aloud, and I read the part of Hamlet for the entire play. But truth be told, I really didn’t know what I was reading. And now I was watching and hearing the play being delivered in Elizabethan English.

It was a tough act to follow, so at halftime (I guess it’s really called intermission), the three of us got up and left. Fortunately Marianne was also having a hard time keeping up with the play.

The one BBQ sandwich wasn’t enough to tide me over (another weak attempt at an Alabama reference), so I just had to stop at Wendy’s to get a burger fix. Marianne and her mom beat me home by a mile, so I when I got there I had to fess up as to my transgression.

After watching the dogs romp for a long while, we had dinner, watched a little TV, and headed back to the trailer to be serenaded by the frogs.