No matter where I am, I don't sleep well.  I was tossing and turning - thinking about the car and Jess.  When I fell asleep, I had nightmares about being chased by dinosaurs and kept waking up. At 7:15, I went outside to check on the car.  I wanted to make sure the radiator wasn't leaking.  I popped the hood and was relieved to discover the radiator was completely full.  I went back inside and ate breakfast before waking up Matt. I grabbed a shower while he was having breakfast and loaded the car while he was in the shower.  Today would be an "easy" day - we were just 7 hours away from the drop zone in Arkansas.

While I was packing the car, I called Richmond Imports to ask for their advice.  Marty said that it was probably a clogged drain.  He suggested I stop somewhere along the way.  He said it shouldn't be very expensive to fix.  Of course, the other option was to leave the air off for the rest of the trip. 

Most of the drive was spent on the phone talking about Jessica.  I was in shock and kept wonder what happened.  How is this possible?  I didn't know Jessica well, but I jumped with her a few times at the Skydive Suffolk August 2014 SIS event.

During the event, we were on a short weather hold.  So, we had a long lunch together.  It was an opportunity for the newer girls to ask Jessica questions about downsizing, etc. One of the girls asked her if she ever got scared.  She said yes - her canopies were very aggressive.

While Matt was driving, I looked at the Skydive Suffolk photo albums to see if I could find one of me with Jess, and I found this picture of us leaving the plane (taken by SpikesConsultingllc. I'm on the right side in green. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn my camera! It's a bummer because Jessica had the biggest smile as we left the plane.     

Just before lunch, Matt asked if we could take a pit stop. With no rest stops in sight, I took the next exit with a McDonald's in Memphis, TN.  As I pulled off the exit, I noticed a Firestone right next door! Seemed like a sign to me!

When I entered Firestone, I was greeted by the customer service manager, Nick. After I explained the problem, he told me that it would be $47.50 to look at the car which would probably also cover the cost of the repair since it sounded like a minor clog. With temperatures now exceeding 80, it seemed like a good deal to me.  It didn't take long for them to check it out. When the A/C specialist was finished, the manager came back in. Apparently, the drain was clogged because the cabin filter was filthy - it looked like it had never been changed. This was very interesting to me since I had my car serviced at a Honda dealer for over 7 years and when Meineke told me that I needed filters changed, I did whatever they said. (Note to me:  Research!)

As the result of the yucky filter, I also had another clog that was hard to get to.  The estimated time to repair:  four hours!  Grrrrr!  We didn't have four hours to sit around and wait for the car to be fixed.  It would have to wait until we got home.  The guys at Firestone were completely understanding about our situation and when I asked what we owed (figuring $47.50)the service manager, Jason, said he didn't like to charge for bad news. Sweet!!!

We thanked them and got back on the road. Even though we didn't have a working air conditioner, we had piece of mind because we knew exactly what was wrong. I was so glad that we stopped, and even happier that they didn't charge us anything! Super nice people at Firestone Complete Auto Care.  We were both pretty hungry, but neither of us really like McDonald's food (with the exception of their fries).  Matt found a Chick-Fil-A just a few exits away in Memphis.  We grabbed some lunch and moving! 

With the exeption of stopping for gas and the restroom, we really didn't have to make any stops along the way.  We continued to listen to CD's from Matt's binder.  So many great artists!  Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, etc.  When we stopped for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Fayetteville, Arkansas, we were only 30 minutes away from the DZ.  . Our waiter was awesome and dinner was yummy!  I had some much needed veggies and some chicken with avocado.  After dinner, Matt found a hotel that was close to the drop zone.  There was a Hampton Inn just a few miles away.  

Since we had plenty of day light, it made sense to check out the DZ. Matt entered the street address from the last page of our directions into Google maps - O D Clark Dr.  We were very confused because we ended up on a dirt in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm land! We started to wonder if we were looking for a farm with a Cessna and a grass runway.   

Matt quickly figured out what went wrong. When I printed the directions, I made our end destination Siloam Springs - not the drop zone! Once we had the correct address, the DZ was easily located, but no one was there. Good thing we decided to check it out before hand!  We really didn't want to waste time in the morning.  

It was early evening when we checked into the hotel.  Matt decided to walk over to the shopping center to see if he could get a haircut.  I took advantage of the time to call Jane and pace around the room. After two days of driving, I just couldn't sit down. The worst part of the trip was over!  1,160 miles was the longest stretch without jumping.  From here on out, our days would be easier. 

Matt wasn't able to get his hair cut because he didn't want to wait.  There were a bunch of people waiting and only one stylist.  Since he couldn't get his haircut, he decided to look in the shoe for store new sneakers.  He was excited because found exactly what he wanted, but when he went to pay for them the clerk told him they weren't for sale. The shoes had one of those ink cartridges and they couldn't remove it.  He was so bummed out!  

After a long hot shower together, we watched a little TV and went to bed early.  We were supposed to be at the DZ by 9!