The saga of the loaner car and its flying key and other news

I've been so busy since getting back from North Carolina I've barely checked in here. I'm finishing up my critiquing for TNEO as well as working on a lecture I'm giving on the book The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. And then I got an insane urge to begin dejunglification on a seldom-used part of our yard and have even more big plans for the new space ... dreaming of a new patio.But I did want to get back to my story about the car loaned to me for the North Carolina trip, and the key that went on its own adventure without me.When I went to the Toyota dealership to see about getting a new Prius, part of the deal was that if it wasn't in by the time I had to go to North Carolina for my sister's wedding, they would give me a loaner car for the trip. I put over 2,000 miles on the little Yaris and it served me well for the trip. However, due to our crazy mixed up travel plans, I realized, while sitting in my parents' living room, there was a major snag.Stephan was flying down since he has to teach summer session and couldn't get more than a couple days off before July 4. He flew into Raleigh-Durham since the wedding was in Chapel Hill, but then the plan was for all of us to drive down to the Outer Banks, about a four hour drive from Chapel Hill. So I had the brilliant idea way back in the planning stages that Stephan would drive my car back to the airport when he had to leave, then I would get a ride to the airport from the beach and pick up the car.So it occurred to me - I only had one key. My Dad suggested calling the Toyota dealership, but since technically I was the only one driving the car I didn't think I could ask them to send me a key. So my Dad's second brilliant idea was to mail the key. Perfect! Surely there was a fed ex drop box in the airport so Stephan could send me the key on his way out.This turned out to be a little more complicated than we anticipated. As I found when I went to pick Stephan up at the airport, there was no fed ex box in the terminal, just at the fed ex terminal which was in an outlying area. I explained my plight to a helpful man at the information desk, and he said that Park and Ride lot 4 was next to the fed ex terminal, so if Stephan parked there, it would be short walk across the street to drop off the key. So once Stephan arrived, we scouted out the location and decided this would work. We picked up an envelope for the key.Though I had the street address and phone number for the house we were renting at the beach, I decided to call the rental company just to make sure what I had was correct for where we would be staying. It's a good thing I called, because the woman I spoke to said they don't have fed ex delivery to the houses, but I could have it sent to the office, and they would call me when it came in. I got this address and wrote it on the fed ex envelope.Stephan was to fly out on July 4, when fed ex was closed, but the drop box would be picked up on Thursday, July 5, and the key would get to me on Friday. He mentioned something about just taking the key back to Indianapolis and fed exing it from there, which I supposed would work, but I would prefer that he take care of it before getting on the plane just to avoid the possibility of screw-ups.So Stephan called from the airport and described the location of the car with the row numbers, and let me know he had put the key and the parking claim ticket (something I had neglected to think about) into the envelope and into the drop box.Thursday afternoon, I checked online to see that the envelope had indeed made it into their system and was scheduled for delivery on Friday afternoon.Friday morning I logged on again and my eyes were drawn to the word "Indianapolis." I had a moment of panic where I thought, shit, did I somehow put the addresses wrong and the key is going to my house in Indianapolis?Then I read more closely and saw that the key had been picked up in Raleigh, flown to Indianapolis, then to Norfolk, VA, then to Virginia Beach, from which the delivery truck had departed.So I called Stephan. "You're not going to believe this . . ."To make an already long story less long, I got the key and the car just fine, but we all had a good laugh over how the key had to go all the way to Indianapolis and back in the process.In other news, I'm going to get my Prius in another hour! I've got all my stuff cleaned out of my Honda Civic. After 7 and a half years and 105,000 miles, it has served me well and is ready to be spiffied up and sold to a new owner.