Fill up the tank, drive for awhile, stop to pee, drive for awhile, stop for lunch, fill the tank, drive for awhile, stop to pee, drive for awhile, stop for dinner, drive for awhile, stop for coffee, drive for awhile, try to stay awake, find a hotel, catch some Z's, wake up, repeat...
Each time I drive, I swear that next year - I'll fly.
Drive to the airport, find a place to park, unload the car, drag it all to the bus, ride to the terminal, drag it all through the line at the ticket counter, find your gate, fight the crowds, undress for the metal detector, jostle about getting to your seat, hope you're on time, hope someone's there at the other end to meet you, see if the luggage made it, lug it all to the parking lot...
Each time I fly, I swear that next year - I'll drive.
This being an odd-numbered year, we drove. It's about 1400 miles one way.
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EUROPEAN AUTO TECH 3953 N CENTRAL EXPY PLANO, TX 75023 972-422-9941 |
<-- DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH THESE INCOMPETENT THIEVES! |
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I drop the car off early in the morning and get them to give me a ride to work. I've arranged for a ride back to the shop at the end of the day, Deidra will walk home from school, and the daycare knows not to pick her up after school.
That morning, I get a phone call from Mario De Bruin, the manager at European Auto Tech. He tells me that things are going fine, they're working on it now, and it should be ready by the end of the day. They will go ahead and change the water pump since it's easily accessible.
Later that afternoon, Mario calls again to say they've got things apart, but when they drained the oil, they didn't get as much out as expected. In removing the oil pan, there is some oil sludge in the pan, and it really should be flushed and allowed to soak overnight so some of the buildup will disintegrate. About $200, and they'll have to keep it overnight. Okay, sounds good. Ker-ching. I call Enterprise to rent a car for a day, and alert the buddy that I don't need a ride home after all.
So I'm thinking I blew it by renting the car for $42 per 24-hour period instead of $28 per calendar day.
Later that morning, Mario calls back to say they've located the part, and they should be done by the end of the day or early tomorrow at the latest.
So around 3:30, I call again to see what's up, and to see if I have any chance of returning the rental car within the 24-hour period that ends at 4:30. They say yes, they'll be done within the hour. Hurrah! I leave work early, return the rental car, and get the nice Enterprise lady to take me to the shop (their ads say "we pick you up" but they also "drop you off" too).
Mario says they're done, but cautions that there may be some crusty oil sludge still floating around the engine. He says I should really baby the car on the way home, no radio, no highway, and if I hear any clicking or unusual noises, to stop the engine immediately. And of course, if the oil pressure light comes on, stop immediately too. He even says that he'll foot the bill to have the car towed back to the shop if anything like this happens. There's a slight chance that some particles could still be in the engine. It's probably okay, but I should take it easy for a day or so just to be sure.
Wow. I pay the bill (just over $800) and drive slowly and carefully away. I take the back roads home to avoid the highway. Radio off. Windows down. No clicking or clattering. No unusual engine noises. I get back in plenty of time to pick up Deidra at daycare and take her slowly home.
Really, this is the first time on the highway since having the work done on the car. I'm still a little leary, but after a couple hours of driving, I stop and check the oil level and listen to the engine idle. Everything's normal.
It's Sunday evening, so traffic north of Dallas isn't too bad. But heading into Oklahoma City, it starts to get a bit heavy. There's some road construction going on, and the road narrows to two lanes. Traffic is funneled into a windy passageway of temporary concrete barriers on both sides. It's starting to get dark. I'm not familiar with the road, and it's a little treacherous maneuvering the curves with barriers on one side and traffic on the other.
It's hard to describe what happened next. There was a loud "clang", the car jerked, and the engine stopped running. No compression at all. The car was coasting as if it was in neutral. I shoved in the clutch and turned the key. A sickly whirring sound. Deidra heard me say a couple of choice words as I pulled as far to the right as I could and turned on the hazard lights.
I set the park brake and we got out as quickly as possible and hopped the concrete barrier to get out of the way. Traffic was heavy and was moving probably 40mph through the construction zone. And I'd just blocked one of the two available lanes. I just knew the car was going to get bashed from behind. The cars that were behind me had stopped. The cars in the left lane were charging along as if nothing was wrong. The cars behind me tried to move left. There were several times when tires or brakes squealed. Luckily, there were no wrecks.
One car pulled over and stopped in front of mine and the occupants asked if we needed help. I said I'd appreciate if they could call a tow truck or the highway patrol. They offered a ride and I declined, preferring to stay with the car. They said they'd call a tow truck. A couple other people shouted and asked if I needed help, and I hollered back that I thought a tow truck was on the way. There were flares in my trunk, but I decided not to risk looking for them. About 15 minutes after stopping, an off-duty security guard of some sort pulled up behind the car. He turned on the yellow cherries on the top of his car, which were visible from a greater distance. He radioed for the highway patrol, then stood outside talking to me and let Deidra sit in his car for warmth. He stayed with us until the tow truck showed up and the car was on top. I told him how much I appreciated his help and tried to slip him a five dollar bill, but he wouldn't take it. He just said "Hope you can have a Merry Christmas".
In the tow truck, the driver asked me where I wanted the car taken. No clue. He suggested their impound yard, where it would be safe until I decided what to do. Since there probably wasn't any place open on Sunday night, that's what we did. After unhooking the car, we unloaded everything from it: luggage, boxes of Christmas presents, the contents of the glove compartment, tools, maps, etc. Just in case we never saw the car again... Then the tow truck driver gave us and all of our stuff a lift to the nearest motel...
We cleaned up and got ready to leave. Finally the phone rang. It was the same tow truck driver from the night before. He said he was on his way. He'd already hoisted up the car. We met him in front of the motel. Loaded all our stuff back into the car and hopped in. He took us down to the Honda dealer in Norman. While we waited for them to check out the dead car, I test drove a few used and a few new Hondas. Finally got the word from the service department that the Prelude needed to be retimed before they could tell if there was any engine damage. I told them after the noise I'd heard I'd be real surprised if something major didn't need to be replaced.
I'd spent a couple of Saturdays in the past looking at new cars, so I knew sort of what I wanted. If I hadn't spent that $800 bucks fixing up the Prelude before I'd left... < sigh >
Knowing that I wasn't in a very good bargaining position, I made an offer on my selection. Typical back and forth stuff. At one point, I told them never mind - the towing company quoted me $200 to tow the Prelude back to Dallas, and I'd take a taxi to the airport and use my Budget reservation. And I was serious about that. The sales manager (talking price with a saleman is STUPID) split the $200 with me and we had a deal. I think I got a pretty good price on the trade-in. I know they can fix it a lot cheaper than I. I know I wouldn't have paid that much for a non-running car.
I did the paperwork thing, and fought off the nimrods trying to sell me extended warranties and stupid insurance I didn't need. They installed the CD changer, filled the tank, and prettied everything up. We didn't get out of there until around 5pm.
I drove straight north into Kansas then west on I70. I stopped at the first motel I saw after crossing the Colorado state line. That was about 1am. Whoops - it's only midnight Mountain Standard Time, but it's been a long, long day.
The new car has airbags, and Deidra hopped right in the back seat without me even saying a word about it. She sleeps while I drive and gets annoyed when I turn up the radio or open the window in an effort to stay alert. Poor kid...
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This page last updated March 14, 2006