Oh MJ ..... I'm so sorry for all you had to go through yesterday. I hope you're able to get your car in working condition and safely back to you, or if not, sold for a good price where you can look at getting another vehicle. I hate car trouble and I totally get how stressful it is. Take care of you!Prairie Waif2 wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 10:52 am C'est matin toute le monde! (It's morning, everyone),
I can't manage the bonne matin this morning!
I hardly slept all night, I did but was up on and off with nightmares and I ache over EVERY inch of my body, even bones I've never had hurt before! The nightmares were about the car, so that figures. The aching all over is a PTSD response along with just the stress in general yesterday. I was so tenses up for all those hours that it figures I would hurt today, I just didn't think it would hurt like THIS.
I started on my jaunt to get the bike. All was going well until about an hour outside of town when the heat gauge for the engine redlined. Oh no! I pulled over to the side of the road and the exhaust was billowing smoke and it was awful!! I opened the hood and did the only thing I know how to do, check the oil. It was okay. I then let the car cool down and tried to find a gas station amongst all the small town in the area. I stopped at a very small town's convenience store that, thank heavens was open, and learned that 5 minutes away (at full speed) was a bigger convenience store along with a gas station. I limped over there at less than half the regular speed with my flashers on to warn traffic behind me I was slow moving. By now? The low coolant light was flashing too. UGH!
I got to the station and the man there was lovely. He let me use his phone to call the lady I was buying the bike from to tell her what was going on. He also had a $30 just of Prestone Coolant. I then begged a ride back to the car from a fellow as the car had died at the VERY edge of town. A wonderful woman gave me a ride to the gas station. I really, REALLY lucked out with the kind gentleman that took me back to my car. By now? The flashers had killed the battery and it wouldn't start to put the coolant in and get it circulating through the radiator. You have to be VERY careful not to open the coolant cap until the car is cooled down or it can explode over you. The man (name, Glenn) Checked all of that and when I couldn't get the coolant in properly due to a very strong wind blowing it all over the place, he kindly did that too. We jumped started the car and all seemed good for me to go on down the road.
He left before me and I could see him ahead of me on the road. Then? The heat on the engine redlines again. At this point? I thought, "Geez! I wish I could afford a cellphone!!" As I was there pondering my fate at the edge of a trunk highway in the middle of the flat prairie, Glenn had seen me, he'd been watching in his review, and came to see what had happened. At this point? We tried again and this time? The engine made some funny noises. Glenn called it kaput and I had to agree. He asked where I was going (I'm still an hour from home at this point) and he told me he was going to a small town near where the bike was located. He was going to go right by it and offered me a ride to the town about 20 minutes away. What a NICE guy! As I got in and finally introduced myself, and he as well, it turned out the town he is from is where one of my best University buddies is from and he was friends with the family!! (Good marks for him there!). We had a very nice chat on the way to the little town's convenience store which was just closing at it was now 9:00 pm.
The nice young man at the convenience store stayed open an extra 15 minutes while I called Nelly (bike seller) to tell her what had happened. She was always going into Brandon, but without the bike so my hope was to be able to get a ride back to town. She was not home like she said she would be!! She had me call her husband who was at home. I asked him about getting a ride back to town and he said he'd need about $50 because that was the cost of the gas to get his big truck into town and back to their house plus he had his two toddler daughters. I was good with that. After all, he did have to drive with his girls the hour to Brandon to get me home. He had the bike in the back of the truck.
Matthew, Nelly's husband, and the kids, gave me a ride straight to my door and he took the bike out of the back of the truck. OH! Is it EVER a nice bike!! He said he takes his electric bike all over but she could find much reason to ride her bike in their very small town (300 pop). I rolled the bike into the house, came in and decompressed for a while and had supper and then introduced May Day as I checked in just after midnight (minuit).
My little hamster is a doll! The cage is an expensive one as are all her toys! So, I'm switching the price of the ride home for having gotten my little girl for that amount and at that? She was very inexpensive (she was given to me for free). So nice to watch her play in her cage.
After yesterday's big adventure and all my pain today? I'm doin' nuthin'!
Thanks Maggine an Florida and all for the thoughts on my car. I guess it's a good thing I have a bike for transportation! And rides from friends.
That's the long and short of it.
So that's the skinny from here! (thanks to all who made it through my exciting 6 hours last night!)
MJ
And congrats on the new little fur baby! Have you named her yet?