The Train Wreck........I mean "The Limo Ride"

I received an amazingly fun gift this year from an even more amazing parent: a gift certificate for a 2 hour limo ride. I decided to maximize the fun factor of the gift by sharing it with my friends. We had the night planned out. It was fantastic! BUUTTTT it wasn't quite what we had planned.........

It began with the limo coming to my house to pick up me, Kenny, Nancy, and Brian. As soon as we met our driver, we knew an interesting evening was about to begin. Meet Fred, the limo driver.....


Fred is 77 and a former pilot and mechanical engineer. He had LOTS of stories to tell. He is even an author. Whitney can't wait to pick up his latest at Barnes and Noble.........something about sheep and a girl named Karen??? ANYWAY, we got acquainted with Fred and started piling in the limo.

As soon as Nancy sat down, she was surprised to find a wine glass under her. As I took it from her to put back on the wine rack on the side panel, we noticed a few wine glasses............that were partially full of red wine! Wine that wasn't ours!

Yeah, look at the glass on the far right..........

Although disgusted, we cracked up! What in the WORLD? Whatever! We had friends to pick up and fun to have. On to Andrea's and Whitney's. We stopped at Whit's for a photo opportunity!


After everyone was piled in, we headed to Big Willy's for some refreshments. We'd been seated for about 20 minutes when Fred came in. He had a "limo emergency" and would need to abandon us for a moment! He promised to make it up to us later and would be back in time to get us to Nakato. We went with it. Looking back, I should have been more assertive and said, "Heck NO, you're not taking off!" But I didn't because I'm not quick on my feet or confrontational.

So we were stranded at Big Willy's for a bit. Conversation was good, and in no time Fred reappeared! We were on our way to Nakato. On the way, we picked up another friend, Julie, so the crew was complete.

At Nakato, Fred PROMISED he'd be back to get us at 10:15 or 10:30. He promised to take us "downtown to watch the crazies" from the comfort of the limo. So we trusted Fred and went to eat dinner. We had a table all to ourselves. The food was great, as was the company.

Around 10:15, we headed to the lobby. No Fred.

We waited 5 minutes. No Fred.

I called Fred...........Fred had gotten stuck by a train...........Fred would be there SOON.

Ten more minutes go by..........the only people left in Nakato were US and the EMPLOYEES! The employees wanted us to leave...........we could tell. We wanted to leave TOO!

15 minutes go by. No Fred.

Luckily we all had planned ahead, and our cars were there. The crew was tired of waiting on Fred. The crew started to disperse.......there would be no going downtown to watch the crazies.

I, however, had to wait for Fred. I still needed to give him his gift certificate. But since WE had waited on Fred, we decided that Fred could wait on US. So we went to drop Julie off at her car. When we came back, Fred STILL wasn't there!

About 5 minutes later, Fred pulled in. Fred wondered where everyone went! I told Fred that he was 45 minutes late and people got tired of waiting. He stated, "But I was going to take you downtown!" Oh well, Fred........oh well.

Despite the issues with the limo, we had an AMAZING time. I can't wait to do it again, but you can be sure that none of us will request Fred as our driver!

Or ride in his plane (even though he offered).

Or read his book.