Another First Tuesday spent on the road

No matter how many foreclosures I have to cry out on the first Tuesday of the month, it still seems to take the same amount of time to accomplish my duties. Last month, we had twentyone foreclosures to cry out and it took three of us from ten o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon (which is all the time we had to complete our tasks). Today, I had five cryouts to finish and I was booting it down I-85 at about 75 mph to get from Canton to LaGrange to finish my last foreclosure. I had to be there before four o'clock p.m. in order to accomplish all of my tasks and get the last one finished. When I left downtown Canton it was about 1:15. I drove to 575 and found it completely blocked with traffic, so I, along with a few other drivers, continued on down Highway 20 toward Cumming and Roswell. I finally found Highway 400 and headed south toward Atlanta. I knew that at any time I could run into more traffic, but I continued down 400, paying the toll at the plaza and ending up on I-85 in Midtown. I blitzed through the traffic heading south through the downtown connector, then skipped over past the airport when 75 and 85 divided. I looked at the clock and it was already 3:00 o'clock. I had less than an hour. As I headed down toward Fairburn, Newnan, Hogansville and then LaGrange, there was construction all the way to Hogansville. The 50 mph construction signs were every half mile, including the ones that informed me that the penalties were doubled for speeding. I kept up with the traffic. I called Kate to find out how much time I had between Flat Shoals and LaGrange. 56 minutes. It was going to be close. When the construction stopped at Hogansville, I blitzed up to 75 mph and made it to the LaGrange exit with twenty minutes to go. I exited the interstate and headed west into downtown LaGrange behind some young guy with a handicapped license and some Alabama girl in a beat up compact car. When I finally was able to get around them, and proceed to the US 29 intersection where the redlight facing me seemed to stay on the traffic light forever. Finally it turned green and the three cars in front of me proceeded slowly to the next traffic light. It turned green and I turned right toward the courthouse. That light turned green and I headed through the intersection and found a parking space along the side of the courthouse. I parked, hopped out with my script for the foreclosure cryout and skipped down the sidewalk to the courthouse steps. I turned away from the courthouse and began reading to the empty steps. As I read people walked past me, in and out, ignoring my litany. I read the bid and the empty air around me was silent. I cried it once, twice, thrice and the property went back to the lender. I looked at my watch: three fifty three. Seven minutes to spare. As I left the courthouse and entered the car, I thought about how close it had been to the amount of time I had to complete just five sales. Last month, I had time to spare and we cried out twenty. How odd. I drove to Country's Barbecue on the west side of Mansours Department Store and entered the empty restaurant. The sole waitress seated me and brought me sweet tea and barbecue and beans and slaw. I could finally relax and enjoy the airconditioning, food and drink. By the time I finished, I felt better about the day. As I drove home, I called the law firm in Decatur and informed them of the completion of my tasks. I asked the lady why it had been so few sales this month. She said the lenders pulled the sales and now they were getting ready for about three hundred sales for July 7th. Lord help us all. That is something to think about. I think we will be busy on that first Tuesday of July.