Hey there readers! Long time no see, eh?
It's finally spring break and I've been slacking on hitting the gym. My gym buddy Chelsea is in Arizona enjoying spring break with her family while I've been stuck in Wisco working.
I managed to make it to the gym Monday after work to do the weight machines.
Tuesday I had to be to work at 8am which is an hour earlier than I am used to this semester. Because of this I was a bit crunched for time in the morning which lead to barely enough time to find clothes to wear to work.
I planned to take Bo for a walk after work but that went out the window when my car decided it didn't want to let me drive it home. As it was happening it seemed like a scary experience but now looking back it wasn't that bad.
As I was driving home I noticed my battery light was on. Then I took a corner and had a heck of a time turning the wheel. I decided I would take the back roads home where I could drive slower with little traffic to deal with. (Keep in mind that I live in the country)
Looking at my dash I realized my temperature gauge was climbing rapidly and eventually stayed in the red. I turned the AC off and kicked the cruise off as well. Pushing the gas pedal down was tough.
I decided at this point I would pull off on a road that would allow my car to be towed home on the back roads if necessary because I wasn't going to drive it any further.
While I was on a straight stretch of road approaching the corner I wanted I tried calling my grandparents' house. Their line was busy. I started going through the list of people I could call that would be able to help me at the time since both of my parents were at work (I got done at 3:30).
As the corner approached that I needed to turn at to get off the main highway I started to worry if I was going to make the corner without power steering. Yes, I thought that's what was going on with my steering before talking to my father later. I know some stuff about cars.
I managed to take the corner with no problem, other than needing to use a little extra muscle to turn the wheel.
Once I was off on the side of the road and turned the car off I tried calling my grandparents again. Still busy. I tried my aunt's cell phone since I thought she would be there with my uncle. No answer. Well, maybe they're still at their house so I'll try that. No answer. Try grandparents again. Still busy. Oh my god now what? My brother forgot his phone at a friend's house the night before and I wasn't sure if he had picked it up yet, or if it did pick it up if he would be at home so he could come help me right away. Crap, I don't know who to call now.
Mom! When in doubt call your mother - that's my motto.
I tried my mom on her cell phone first. No answer. OK, this qualifies as an emergency call her at work. Side note: my mom recently took a new position with her current company and was moved to another location in town where she doesn't have a direct line so she told me to only call her at work in case of emergency.
She was at her desk and I of course lost it on the phone. Thankfully because I had called her on her cell first she saw she had a text from my aunt (different than the one I called before) so she knew my aunt was on her way home.
My aunt agreed to pick me up from the side of the road. My mom was going to pack up her stuff at work and come home but I told her not to since there was nothing more that could be done until my dad got done with work.
Turns out my aunt was on the phone with my uncle, who was at my grandparents' house. Bad timing to have brother-sister chat guys!
My grandpa and grandma actually drove by me and my car but didn't know that it was me so they didn't stop.
After picking up my brother from home (who hadn't picked up his phone yet) my grandpa, aunt, and I went back to my car. About 2 seconds after popping the hood we discovered my belt had come off. It wasn't broken or anything so my brother said my tensioner was broken.
My grandpa and brother attempted to put the belt back on but without proper tools it's very hard to do. Eventually a nice man stopped and took one look and a wiggle before saying it's pointless to put the belt back on since the tensioner is indeed broken and it won't stay on.
Soon after that my mom appeared (it's now after 5pm) and shortly after my dad showed up. My dad drove my car home, with one stop on the road to cool the engine down since the fan doesn't work without the belt, and another stop in the driveway. This time we decided to push the car to the shed so we would work on it.
Who needs a gym when you can push a car? I was feeling the burn in my quads!
Thankfully my dad is handy with cars (and everything else) and was able to find the source of my trouble. The tensioner pulley was bad. We were able to run to town and pick a new one up for $20. I was so relieved to know I wasn't going to need to shop for a new car.
My dad put the new pulley on and we got the belt on. Now my car is good as new. Well, almost. It is 14 years old so it's as good as it was before the pulley went bad.
That pretty much took over the evening so when we were finally done (and test drove the car with my dad) it was time to just relax in the house for an hour before going to bed.
I made sure to leave early for work yesterday in case I would have trouble. But I made it there and back home safe and sound. Today I will not be driving my car as I'm actually trying to enjoy break without work.
Unfortunately, school doesn't just magically disappear while you're on a week long break and I will need to work on some things that are due next week.
Do you have a scary car story to share?
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