in the Hands of the Potter: Chasing cars

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Chasing cars

Well I was going to try to sit here and make this sound all eloquent and whatnot. But since I'm tired now and really just want to sleep, I will write the story of my weekend in my normal, boring way. And not sound eloquent. But you know what? That is ok.

This weekend I went to Rachel's wedding in Philly. Actually, I drove down yesterday, got there in time for the wedding ... and my plan was to drive back home afterwards. It does sound crazy, yes. But I had my reasons. As it turned out, I ended up staying with Leigh, Matt, Ginger, and Justin at a hotel nearby ... which was nice. And the wedding in itself was fun, too! Rachel looked gorgeous, as everyone expected. And I think everyone else had fun, too.

But back to the story. I hadn't been planning on staying overnight, so I didn't bring my phone charger. I knew the battery was low, but I figured "hey, it's not like I NEED my phone ... it's just for entertainment purposes anyway ...." so I didn't worry about it. And on the way home this afternoon, it did indeed die.
And I did indeed NEED it.

So I'm driving along, illegally listening to my iPod, and note all of a sudden that the "traction off" light on my dashboard just came on. Interesting. I've never seen that light before. (I have seen most of the OTHER warning lights on my dashboard ... so I was a little bummed to realize there were more that I hadn't yet discovered). Then I notice that I'm stepping on the gas ... harder now ... and nothing is happening. Another interesting observation. So I pull over, put on my flashers, and yank out my "owners manual," trying to find out what this mysterious "traction off" light means. I can't quite figure out what the book is trying to say, so I figure, maybe it'll go off if I turn the car back on.

But, alas, the car won't turn back on. Nope. The engine won't turn over now. Try it again? Now it just sits there sputtering at me. And the "battery" and "check engine" lights are now on as well.

OK, not a problem. I'll just call AAA and have them come tow me.

Oh yeah, my phone is dead.

Interesting.

(I was *almost* freaking out at this point. I was on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere ... miles away from any towns. There were a few houses along the road, but it didn't look like anyone was home).

Well, I guess I could just walk to a house and SEE if someone is home. Ah, there's a guy in that driveway vacuuming his car!!! :) He turned out to be nice and let me use his cell phone to call AAA ...... they were also very nice, and sent a tow-truck out to get me. They dropped me (and my car) off at a mechanic nearby ... and I had to walk home. Good thing it wasn't *too* far! :)

A few weeks ago, my "check engine" light had come on. I took it in, and they couldn't find anything wrong with it ... so they turned it off and said I should come back if anything else went wrong. And, come to think of it, a week or two before that the battery died in a friend's driveway. We jumped it and it was ok ... but I hadn't been doing anything that would have drained the battery. The tow-truck man told me that it sounds like the alternator. I should probably look that up, since I really have no idea what it does. :)

That was pretty much my adventure for the day. I do praise God that this happened close to home, where I wouldn't have to be towed incredibly far .... NOT on the highway, where I would have had to flag someone down and hope they stopped to help me .... and NOT at 2 in the morning, where semis would have been my only option. Praise Jesus for knowing in advance what is going to happen to His children and putting them in the right positions. Now all I need to worry about is how do I get to work and all the other places I'm supposed to be!

posted by emily @ 11:09 PM

1 Comments:

At 1:30 AM, jenneroni said…

Roommate...I miss you...how are you...what have you been up to...when can I see you...???????

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