Midnight Ride

As you all know I've been traveling alone for interview recently and I just have to share the story of my cab ride to the airport Saturday morning. I was in Winston-Salem, NC to interview at Wake Forest. I was hoping to get moved to the first flight out on Saturday at 6:15 am - I figured it was my best chance - who wants to leave at 6:15 on Saturday morning. So I set my alarm for 3:15 and called - sure enough there was a spot. So I packed my bags and headed down to the front desk to see if I could get a ride from their shuttle. Turns out the driver doesn't get there until 5:00am. Understandable, I suppose. So I asked them to call me a cab. The cab arrived and after loading in my luggage and pulling out of the hotel he said we had to go get gas. Sure enough it was true - we ran out of gas a block and a half before the gas station, but luckily it was downhill and we could coast. This gas station just happened to have 10 or so people milling around at 3:45 in the morning. But they all turned out to be good friends with my cab driver. This was slightly reassuring - I was no longer worried about the people milling around, but I was slightly more concerned about the cab driver. We finally finish getting gas and are on the freeway when the cab makes a horrible clunking noise and the entire car starts to shake. He pulls over to the shoulder and checks - no flat tires - so he decides we're good to go. But as soon as we reach 5mph the entire cars starts shaking again. At this point I decide it's necessary to pipe up so I ask if they're someone else who could come pick us up and get me to the airport. The cab driver gets out of the car - calls his dispatcher - who sends someone else out. But then the cab drivers stays out of the car to have a smoke. But he doesn't stay on the protected side of the car, but wanders around the freeway at 4:00am. Now I'm concerned that he's going to get hit by one of the semi trucks roaring past us! Great- I'll have to call 911 and I have no idea where we are - somewhere on the freeway toward the Greensboro airport. Luckily after 25 minutes the other cab shows up and we have an uneventful ride to the airport. Looking back on the whole event I'm amazed at how calm I felt through most of it. Gotta love these great travel stories.