Making Smoldering Memories

So, you remember that time that my truck caught on fire? If not, you should catch up, and then return for the rest of this irregularly scheduled post. If you’re all caught up and in the know, by all means please continue reading. I’ll start by saying I now know the cause of that imfamous Alabama inferno, but uncovering said catalyst happened at both an inopportune time and a potentially hefty price. 

Saturday morning, Ragan and Jin and I departed Nooga on our way to Ikea to procure living room furniture for Apartment 24, namely some variety of a couch/loveseat/chaise seating ensemble. Ikea was/is wonderful. So much good design in one (massive) building. Everything in the place is cheap/reasonable and everyone in the place is happy (no, seriously… all of the thousands of customers there are in a great mood. It’s almost disconcertingly strange. Amazing how good design can change people’s moods. Target sort of has the same feel, though on a lesser scale I think.)

Goods were procured, furniture was picked up, I had the realization that I should have planned better and rented a U-Haul (something about hindsight… 20/20… etc.), and then we spent 20 minutes or so getting everything packed in, tied down, and tarp-ed over for the two hour drive back to Nooga. We made a short stop at Pappasito’s Cantina for some of the best Tex-Mex i’ve had in years, and then piled back in to the vehicle for the return trip. I must point out at this time that Ragan and Jin, being the AWESOME friends that they are, we both sitting in the front seat at this time (get a U-Haul, genius) to make room for all our newfound schwag.

45 minutes from my address we smell something burning. Our immediate collective notion is that it is engine related. If you’re all caught up and in the know, this should start sounding familiar. We drive for 5 minutes, it gets progressively worse. We begin to search for the next habitated exit. 30 minutes from home, we exit. 

This is the part of the story where I tell you how my muffler had at some point (like June in Alabama, maybe?) broken in the middle, thereby releasing all exhaust emissions directly under my driver-side back wheel, super-heating the metal, smoldering through the upholstery, smoldering through the box containing my new loveseat and its slipcover, melting a 3″ deep hole in the foam of said loveseat approximately 12″ in diameter, and making the absolute worst smell ever.

So, you remember that time my truck caught on fire? Oops, I did it again.

In the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t a big deal. I’m still breathing and I have some very nice furniture. As for the loveseat, I scraped most of the offensive smelling melted foam out and should be able to get any decent upholstery place to fix the foam void. Then i’ll simply order a new slipcover from Ikea to cover it all up. No one will ever know. 

Well… except for all of you. Shhhhh.