Murphy’s Attack: Day Five of the Drunken New Year Adventure

January 3, 2009

All four of us woke up late on the third day of the year. Whether it was the cold, vodka or Archie’s Tinola, it was evident that May and Jane missed the bus that they were not going to ride. It was the last day of our adventure, and already we were dreading the return to work on Monday. We sluggishly packed up our things, wearily lounged around the house and waited for everyone to be ready to hit the road.

We went to Café by the Ruins for a very late brunch. Midway through the meal, friends arrived. Another group of 4 people who have also made an adventure of the start of the year, actually tracing the same highway that Archie and I had traveled, catching up with us at last here in Baguio.

Come to think of it, this whole trip was actually borne out of a meeting between Archie and 3 of the members of this group. Leo, Fritzie and Majo were at the Gateway Mall when Archie came up with the proposal for the road trip to Pagudpud which was our back-up plan to the original Batad nature trip. The only issue was the timing. Archie wanted to stick with the original plan of spending the eve of the new year away from it all while the 3 of them preferred to start the trip on the day of the new year. The result was a split, 2 separate groups with the same ultimate destination but different schedules and itineraries. Both groups were supposed to meet up in Pagudpud, but that did not happen because of schedule problems. So the only feasible meeting place was in Baguio, but nothing definite was planned.

So both groups met at the Café by the Ruins finally, and it lasted for less than an hour. As we were all ready to head out to Manila after the meal and catch up with some social obligations, the other group were barely in town and needed to stay to enjoy the sights, temperature and wares the city had to offer.

And so early in the afternoon, we started our trip to Manila.

The trip was generally uneventful for most of the way. A lot of jokes, songs and stories were exchanged. A few short stops, the first at Rosario, La Union for restroom breaks and cigarettes and the next at Paniqui, Tarlac for snacks. We had taken shortcuts through vast expanses of ricefields and farm to market roads to make the trip quicker and with less traffic.

Twilight caught us on the inroad to the SCTEX, and we were making great time. However, Murphy caught up with us right in the middle of the new highway. Doing 100kph on the SCTEX, our rear tire suddenly burst. Fortunately, control of the car was not compromised and we were able to move to the shoulder safely for a tire change. It was pretty routine, up until I discovered a disturbing occurrence. Inspection the burst tire, the aluminum rim that the rubber tires were mounted on was losing a fairly large chunk. To make matters worst, the spare wasn’t inflated up to the required pressure and that meant I had to nurse the car until I could get more pressure into the spare.

A patrol from the SCTEX management appeared to make sure that we as well as the other passing traffic were safe. We explained what happened and cautioned about the missing pieces of the aluminum rim which might cause damage to other vehicles. Responsibly, they searched for the missing pieces and when they did find it, caught up with us and gave us the missing pieces. Looking at the 2 separate chunks of metal alloy, I couldn’t help but wonder if the damage was caused by all the stresses imposed upon the rim by the journey. And if so, does that mean that the other 3 rims were compromised as well?

And then another problem emerged, the short cuts we took, though faster, also took its tool on our gasoline consumption and now, the warning light glowed once again. So nursing the car by driving at the minimum speed limit on the highway, I was thinking that one, I did not have another spare, second, will the other 3 rims give as well, and last, if I had not judged the distance correctly, we might run out of gasoline. Murphy was celebrating!

So we limped in at the first gas station that we encountered on the NLEX and had solved two of the three problems I was concerned with. Fortunately, Murphy hadn’t shown himself again after that. Just in the nick of time, we were able to reach Quezon City, and put a close to our New Year Celebrations.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!