I woke up really early and tried to catch a bit more sleep since I was to drive about 6-7 hours / over 400 miles / about 700 km today, but it didn't work. So I got up, packed all my stuff and waited for a bit, I then ate my last breakfast with my friend at her house before she dropped me off to the Dollar Rent A Car center. The guy that was helping me asked me if they quoted the price to me, to which I said yes and I knew he'd ask me because it was ridiculously cheap, that's why I wanted to rent a car from Tucson. And he said something, it was all a bit weird. He then kept going on and on about the insurance and that I would have to pay for the days it was in the shop too if anything would happen, etc. Then he told me that I would have to pay the full amount of the car, about 20.000$ if something bad happened and named the total price, which was still cheap. So I asked him twice if that was the total and he said yes. My friend was waiting and I just said, fine. Because I knew I would hate myself if something happened and I didn't get the insurance. And then he went, you do get a 'free' GPS, normally 16$ a day (also BS) is what he told me (the GPS was stuck to the car so it wasn't like he did me a favor or anything). Anyway, I went outside, took a final picture with my friend (she put the same dress on, I forgot mine) as 3 years ago when we said our farewells and so we said our farewells again. My car, a Toyota Jarvis, was blue and pretty cool, a real smurf (for those who don't know, even though my own car is grey/silver, I call it a Smurf too)!
So after driving for about an hour, I heard a noise and I was afraid that it was one of the tires. So I stopped as soon as I could and it was a piece of plastic at the front that I was able to just 'smack' back in its place. It kept happening though, so I stopped a few times to put it back in its place, but after a while it seemed pointless and I left it as it was. When I did the first time, I also checked the paperwork (a bit late I know, but I trusted what the guy told me) and the amount was about 120$ more of what he had told and showed me before I signed. So I was kind of pissed off, but tried to let it go because it was just money...you'll read later on, that I couldn't let it go though.
The views were pretty cool, but after a while it was all the same and there weren't a lot of places to stop or exits that were interesting, so it got tiring to drive. And so to get to San Diego asap, I was kind of speeding...that is, until a cop came out 'of the bushes' and followed me. Oh oh...I took the exit and he followed. He asked for my driving license and where I came from and where I was headed, etc. I of course said I thought it was still a 75 miles zone and tried to pass the truck which was why I was speeding a bit, he told me I went 84 in a 65 miles per hour zone. Anyway, I don't think he knew what to do with my foreign passport and driving licence and angel eyes :p and let me off with a warning. I only had about 100 miles left after that, so out of about 450 in total, not bad right. I obviously did not speed again after that, thinking he had told his buddies further down the road to watch out for my Smurf. But my next problem would soon occur.
It said that the next services were in 32 miles (gas, etc). And according to what I'd done with the first half of the tank, it shouldn't be a problem to make it for another 32 miles. But boy oh boy, it got pretty tight because of a detour and a skipped services exit!! I found another feature of the car that didn't work properly, the gas level indicator. And all of a sudden, it was on E(mpty) and the gas light went on and I was in the middle of nowhere! I had no clue when the next services would come up, because of the detour. So I stopped at the closest Call Box, a phone on the side of the road every couple of miles or so. You can use that for anything really, and I asked the guy if he could tell me when the next gas station would come up. And so he said in about 15-20 miles. The light had been on for a good amount of miles and I had no idea if I would make it... until I saw the gas station, halleluja! I also told myself never again, not here in the middle of the dessert anyway!
I kept on going and towards the end, and the roads kept going up and the air got cooler (the windows were open most of the time, but I also saw temperature in my dashboard display), I went from 95°f this morning to 68°f in the end, so in Celsius from 35 to 20!! Brrr, elevation went up to over 4000ft too. Which gave me new views, mountains, rocky mountains, etc. Pretty entertaining again and soon after I arrived in the city and it wouldn't be long before I would be at the hostel.
I was glad when I finally got to the hostel!!! The ride was over! I told myself that I will make more, longer stops when I do another 6-7 hours later on this week, which shouldn't be too hard since there's a few things I want to see on the way. On this trip, I really only stopped 4 or 5 times, to fix the car, when the cop stopped me, to get a drink and use the restroom and to get gas. Because there was little to do and I just wanted to get to San Diego without this car breaking down on me. The hostel is pretty cool, it's called Hi San Diego Point Loma and there's lots of neat looking common areas, the mattress looks really thick too so I am excited to sleep on it!
The amount I paid for the car still bothered me plus the fact that the car had its issues. So instead of cruising around and go sightseeing, I decided to find a Dollar Rent A Car office in the city. I got there and bless the guy I talked to, Fred. He's the guy outside that you return your car too and then checks the cars. He told me that the amount wasn't right for the insurance, this was more for an SUV or something and I just had a compact, the smallest size available. He told me he would fix it, I would have to go inside and explain my story again and he would make sure I would have the GPS again for free as well because of the inconvenience. He told me to go to the Compact area and see if there was a car with GPS standing there, if not, he would make sure I got it. I picked out the same car with GPS inside it, just a silver model instead of blue. I then went inside the office to get the paperwork done. The guy that helped me, Leo, said that the guy that helped me this morning just manually entered an amount because the rental costs were so low and I guess he was trying to make money. And so Leo changed it to the actual amount and it saved me 150$!! I don't like complaining, but it just didn't feel right and so I'm glad I went there. I had about a third of a tank left, a window full of dead bugs, but I got a just washed, clean car back with another full tank :)! They also told me to file a complaint against that guy and so I will. My heroes of the day!! It really made my day and just goes to show that there are still (so many) good people around! I remember Fred saying, I'll make sure we will fix it for you, because I don't want anyone to leave my area unhappy. And I left with a smile :).
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