Car Chronicles: Part One: Road Trip

Today was road trip day.

We finally got everyone together and hit the road around 11ish. Seeing that our speedometer was acting a bit wacky, we pulled over at a geocache to see if we could wiggle the wire. Well, honey it got wiggled…and broken. Because the speedometer wasn’t working, the odometer wasn’t either. So as my hubby said, “free miles!” Unfortunately, it still consumed its diesel as per usual. And, just because it didn’t think that it was going somewhere didn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t break down. But, we’ll get to that.

Geocaching. Yes, so, us girls went to find the ‘treasure’ with the kids while the guys excitedly tinkered (and broke) the car. Whatever. At least it is definitively broken now so we can get it fixed once and for all. The kids chose to trade some items for some tattoos. And then went on and on about how they needed water to apply the tattoos. Very nice tattoos. But you know, with all those mosquitoes, at least I got to see if rubbing the inside of a banana peel on the bite eases the itching. (It does.)

Back on the road…got to the grocery store to pick up the meat and cheese and veggie trays for the art show opening. The people there were so excited that we finally got there to pick them up that they forgot to give us the crackers. Being sorta slow and chatting between our vehicles, we were still outside a bit later when they realized and came out with our crackers. Sweet. We are at one with the universe.

On to Carbon! We arrived early, cookie bag depleted and red hot from the black interiored car with no air conditioning. I knew I should have ridden in the other car. They have AIR!

All is well, the kids are having fun getting rides up the handicap chair lift on the stairs. After a lovely picnic out in the gallery’s garden and of course, admiring the art and visiting with people, we headed off for pie! YUM! The moment we have all been eagerly anticipating.

So, we are about 10km from the gallery and a zillion from home and have not yet gone ‘the 20km out of the way for pie’ when bang! A burst of smoke comes billowing out from the front passenger side. Loud squealing fills the air. Great. Just great. I had a feeling that we were going to breakdown today. And not just because my hubby the tech god was having computer and GPS troubles this morning. See, I have the soon-to-be-proverbial black thumb of tech troubles and he has magic tech fingers. I kill the cars and…well, I kill the cars. So, when I had the magic tech fingers this morning and he was doing the driving…well, you know how to spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

So, I hop out of the car and pop the hood. Well, the smoke is already gone. Just like that. Smells like rubber. Tire is fine though, that is the first thing I checked. So, we all peer in there and everything looks okay. But I tell you, that smoke just about had the guys speed dialing the tow truck. (It was quite impressive, really. I wish I had taken a photo.) So, I started up the car, after telling them to get their heads out from under the hood. Everything seems good. Typical. The car is like that. Someday I will tell you about the trip where our 2 hour trip turned into 10 due to a loose block heater cord. Yeah, that messed things up in a superficial sort of way. The car always acts all dramatic over some tiny, little, stupid thing. That car has a weird sense of humour. It’s not nicknamed ‘Schiz’ for random reasons.

On we go. And then hubby tries to steer. Ugh. That is hard! Damn, it was the power steering! Gone. So, who knows just how bad it is, but we drove it home. We have no mercy on our old beaters. Currently, we have a list about as long as our arm for repairs on that poor car. And last night, just spend $1600 on airfare to visit family this summer. Yeah…so not exactly flush for making repairs at the moment. Yikes.

Needless to say, we drove home daydreaming about new cars and when I got home, I called my grandma to see if she is thinking of trading in her Saturn yet. She is getting close to the 5 year trade-in mark. Although, since she is in her late eighties, she is wondering if it is smart to buy a new car. Do it for us, Grandma! Do it for us! You can do it! You’ll be driving until you are a hundred! (Really, she is a FABULOUS driver. We once figured out (through degrees of separation) that she has pretty much taught everyone in the extended family how to drive. And I might add, our accident record is quite good–as in we don’t hit things–other than animals. But that is mostly my brother. He makes up for the rest of us humane types.)

So now we begin saving up for replacing our old beaters…<Sigh>