Cars! I send cars and their various malfunctions to Mordor. This the fourth time my plans have been shot to pieces by cars that don't work. And this time is the mechanics' fault!
When you bring a car in for part replacements and it comes out with the alignment off, that's one annoyance. But when you bring it back in to get it to drive straight, it shouldn't come out even more crooked with screwed up brakes!
And you can't blame your professor for being uncomfortable with the idea of driving, with a student, three hours to an event on unfamiliar roads at night with a car that doesn't stop and veers to the right.
And these were really good plans.