Hm. Well, I guess the boring summer I had been experiencing so far just wasn't cutting it. On Sunday I thought it would be fun to take a trip down/over/up to Estes Park (i.e., the place Ray took me for Thanksgiving where The Shining and parts of Dumb and Dumber were filmed, as well as where Rocky Mountain National Park resides). The ride was beautiful. Colorado is gorgeous. Anywho, when going into the Rockies I was pulling over to take some pictures, and my car locked up. It just... locked up. My power steering came on and my brakes tightened up and it just sucked. The person I was with is amazing with cars, so he reset my car after a few minutes and all seemed to be working well. I was wrong.
We began climbing into the "Never Summer" range and were at about 10,000 ft. Thank heavens I had just pulled into a parking lot because right when we began to climb up towards the mountain my car locked up again. As in, my engine completely shut off. My electricity (e.g., radio, lights, etc.) all still worked, but my engine was out. I had to roll backwards for momentum while using my crazy muscles (ha) to substitute for my power steering. I got it into a parking place; between the lines, mind you--I'm nothing if not a parking perfectionist (again, ha). We tried to reset the car again and that did NOT work. THUS, I went up to the little rest area place and tried to find a phone. Luckily, there were a lot of people around. A group of them happened to come up to us and ask if we needed anything. They were very sweet. They kept insisting that we eat their sandwiches and drink their pops. I think at one point the woman even said, "COME ON. YOUR MUM WOULD WANT YOU TO HAVE A SODA. WOULDN'T SHE? YES, SHE WOULD. JUST TAKE A SODA. EAT A SANDWICH. DO IT, DAMNIT!" (Hokay, I may have exaggerated the "Do it, damnit" part, but she was very insistent).
So, I get up to the little rest area and I see a Junior Ranger office. I got very excited and then realized that it is more of an office for summer camp-like activities, so there was no one in it. Luckily (again) there happened to be a maintenance man there. He called a ranger, the ranger called a tow company (who were open on Sundays!!!!), and we sat and waited. When the tow truck came, a woman got out and began to go to work. The gist of this part I suppose is that these people were extremely kind, and I got towed down to the Mercedes dealership (brand new) in Loveland, CO. I left my keys and car there, and we took off to eat.
Now here come the coincidences. The dealership happened to be across the highway from where Ray plays hockey, so I was familiar with the area. That made choosing what restaurant to go to easy. The person I was with called some friends to see if anyone could pick us up. He got ahold of someone and they said they would come down. He happened to call another friend about an hour later and coincidentally that person was in Loveland. We ended up getting a ride with the first person, but it was nice to know that sometimes, things just work out. It reassures me that there really isn't a need to stress about the small stuff--things will be taken care of. You might as well just enjoy the experience and take it for what it's worth.
The next day I got a call from the dealership and we began to figure things out. I got a ride down to Loveland that afternoon and got my car--freshly fixed, oiled up, and washed. We went to eat and then headed back to Laramie. We hit a CRAZY storm. I mean, I've driven through some bad shit, and this was terrible. I think it was mostly the fact that it was on a hilly/windy road and I couldn't see well and I kept hydroplaning. Oh, well. When all is said and done: I'm a few hundred dollars poorer and a few more experiences richer. I think it balances out :). Now I'm off to Walmart. I have some juice and pickles in my fridge--time to restock.
SIDEBAR: Co-capt (Cushman) is coming to visit me in August!! We are flying back together from Mich., so that will be nice. Travel buddies!
Love y'all.
No comments:
Post a Comment