The 3 Glitch TR Incident

Nicole and I left Melissa's party with a smile on our faces ready to hit the road. The party was in Riverside so the plan was Nicole would follow me home in her car and spend the night so she wouldn't have to sit in traffic in the morning on the way to work. The plan was great and stayed the same, however, then there was the TR incident.

Shortly after we were on the 91, I realized Nicole didn't have a fast trak, however, we needed to take the toll road to get to my house. I called her and we worked out that I would drive in front of her and pay part of the toll, because she only had a $1.75. So Nicole and I proceeded to drive on the 91 until we were going to merge onto the 241 toll road. Here comes glitch numero uno.

"Um..Nicole. It says the off ramp is closed for the 241 so I'm not sure what we are going to do."
"Oh..Ok."
Relief fills my mind. "Wait, there is a detour." Some kind of heroic dun da dah music should be played here. "Follow me!"

So glitch one is resolved; we follow the detour and we are on our way. The next event isn't necessarily a glitch, but we will call it one to suffice the title. So here comes glitch numero dos. I pull up to the first toll booth and luckily there is an attendant.

Me: "The girl behind me only has $1.75 so I would like to pay for the remainder of her toll."
TR A: "Ok, then you owe $.50"
Me: "Ok." (hands money) "Thanks!"
I drive away and Nicole pulls up next.
TR A: "Do you have your $1.75?"
Nicole: "Yes" (hands money) And she's off.

So we continue to drive. Now it gets sketchy. Enter glitch numero dos. Nicole is following me and I'm driving along and then all of sudden in the corner of my eye I see another toll booth. The green and red lights flicker in the distance as my mind tries to wrap around the concept that there is another one. Oh no. I quickly cut across three lanes looking back and smile that Nicole is doing the same. I call Nicole.

"Um..so I didn't know there was another one."
"I don't have money left."
"Yeah, um..well I'll go in front and pay whatever change I have and see what it amounts to."

We drive up to the booth. There is no attendant. I begin to put pennies, dimes, nickels, anything I could find in my purse into the machine. Nicole calls.

"Hi. So far I have put in $1.67, but I don't have much left."
"Ok. I found $1.40 in my purse."
"Great. You can put in the rest. I'll pull through and you can put in what you have...oh, crap."
"What?"
"If I pull through, it will use that change for me, not my fastrak, which doesn't solve our problem at all."
"Oh no, what do we do?"
"We have to back up."

So Nicole and I began to back up. As we backed out, Nicole reads a sign to me that is posted next to the booth that says, "Backing up is illegal." Oops. So we backed out, luckily there wasn't traffic. And Nicole pulls in front ready to put in her change. Nicole calls.

"Um..Jenna. Your money is gone."
"What?"
"It took the money you had put it in."
"Oh no."
"What do we do? I don't have enough money."
I pause.
"We ask other people for change."
"Are you serious?"
"What else are we going to do?"

So I proceeded to ask some nice ladies in an SUV behind me for change. This involved me getting out of my car and going back to their car. They were very nice and generously gave Nicole and I the toll. Nicole entered the money and glitch three was resolved. I am happy to say there were only three glitches and not more. We arrived at my house safe, but I have to say not laugh free. That, people, is a story for the books.