Made it back to Aiken in the rental car with 3 hours and 50 miles to spare. We left at 7:00am and got back to our driveway at 3:00pm. 8 hours is a long time to be cooped up in that air conditioned cocoon of an automobile, but it served it’s purpose well, we are not nearly as frazzled as we would have been if we had spent that same amount of time and mileage in the Miata.
In spite of the heat, I could not resist putting the top down as I led Donna back to the rental place to return the car. It also felt really good to be connected to the road again, turn the wheel the car turns, step on the gas the car lurches forward and everything was back in perspective again (everything was bigger than me) 🙂
Donna read the whole office of Enterprise people the riot act about the shabby rental the gave us. The very low front tire that made the car ride funny to the melted crayon in the back seat to the general filthiness of the car. She told them of her sister’s comment upon seeing the car, “Did you get this from Rent-A-Wreck?” As their way of apologizing they took the rental fee for one day off the price. A nice offering, but we still probably won’t go back to them when we rent a car in September to take the trip up north.