Below is a read to pass the time and find something to to lament with and just take you out of your moment, for the moment. Enjoy the tale of whoa.
Prologue
A Superstition is a credulous belief or notion that is not based on any reason or knowledge and refers to folk beliefs deemed irrational. (Irrational means “not based on reason.”)
I don’t wear my wedding ring often. My finger changes sizes drastically with the weather. But every now and then I put it on because I miss it. The last time I wore it though, both my cars broke down in the same week I wore it. I had the oddest feeling that putting the ring on might have been related so I took it off and put it somewhere safe. That was over a year ago. Last Friday morning I put the ring on.
The Weekend
The previous weekend I finally took my first road-trip in eleven months. I had been looking forward to this trip for a while now and I took a few days off from work to make this a great four-day weekend with my extended family in Southern California. It should be fun. Should be.
The road trip seemed uneventful up until the point when we crested the top of “the grapevine,” a section of CA Interstate 5 that we drove up from Grapevine, CA to Lebec and onward to Castaic, CA. The part that took its toll on us had an elevation change of about 2,661 over a ten-mile / ten-minute drive. But before we made the top I noticed a funny, dirt-looking film covering the back hatch window. But there was nothing else going on. I kept going. After Lebec, as we were approaching Gorman, CA, was when I saw the temperature gauge finally responding to what I suspected as it pegged into the warning zone and then finally a strange light & beep combo went off in the car. One we had not seen before. My wife looked up the warning light symbol and it was telling us that the coolant level was low. We then heard the funny pinging sound from the engine. Something that happens when you try to use the motor when it’s too hot.
This couldn’t be good. Could it?
The Water Dance
We pulled into the Shell station in Gorman and the funny caramel smell coming from the car made me groan. It would seem that what could have been a great 4 hour drive from Menlo Park to Santa Clarita, CA has been interrupted.
After checking the engine I saw the water reservoir was empty and some steam wafting from the engine. Eh, I don’t see anything else going on, so I buy a few gallons of water and slowly add it to the reservoir. There was some funny bubbling in the reservoir and when I put the lid on the reservoir, a funny whining sound came from underneath the engine. When I took the lid off, the water level in the reservoir slowly faded down the tube. I added more water and got on with the drive.
Alas, the temp gauge was happy and we went on our way… for about 2 miles when all the warning bells went off again. I pulled over and went through the same routine again. Slammed the hood and rushed to the cockpit of the car, hoping to get as far as I could on the last gallon of water I had in the car. It looked good until we ran into a traffic Sigalert and crawled to a stop in a horrendous stop-and-go traffic on the freeway. Knowing I had limited time with the escaping water, I barely made it to a spot I felt good pulling over at.
People Reaffirm There Are Good People Out There
This time I had no water. So here was the dilemma: Call for AAA and wait however long it would take to get to us through the massive traffic jam or maybe, just maybe, see what happens when I hold up my empty water jug, upside down for all to see.
In a touching moment in time I had all kinds of offered water. A family whose car barely looked like it could stay put together offered us their last bottle of water. Another family offered us their last bottle of drinking water. I collected a few 12 & 18 oz bottles of water from awesome people. An 18-wheeler slowed down enough for me to hop up on the sideboard and take a 2 gallon jug of water from him and a second semi popped open a service door in the side of his cab and yelled out, “Take a black one!” A black one being a huge jug of water. I suddenly found myself in possession of quite a few gallons of water. After having dealt with some low-handed blows from associates over the last year or so, this show of selflessness from total strangers was a wonderful show of caring humanity. It was awesome. Thank you folks!
Onward
We made it to the top of the huge grade that overlooked Castaic at a truck rest spot about eight miles north of my newest destination. It’s all down hill from there, more or less. We added more water, pulled out and three miles later, it was all downhill, the elevation dropping from 2300 to 1200 feet above sea level. I wasn’t sure I could make it… unless, hmm. I pulled into the right lane with the slow moving trucks and turned the motor off and coasted to Castaic. Yep, coasted. The brakes need more body weight put into them to work, but it was saving the engine. Heck, at one point I passed a truck!
We made it to Castaic and pulled into the Union 76 station, which was a AAA station. As I was filling up the car with water, I took note that the water was pouring out of the engine as fast as I was pouring it into the reservoir. Bad sign. I called AAA and in the end, we got the car to a VW shop and our butts to my in-laws. Mission accomplished! Sort of.
The guy at the VW shop couldn’t get a part until Monday and we were going to be there until Tuesday afternoon. I told him that I will have to rent a car to go home Monday so if he can find the parts within 2 hours of the place, let me know. He did, I went, I got, I delivered my own parts. The car was then done later that Saturday. That was awesome.
The Tale Continues as the House Gurgles
When I’m at my in-laws place, it’s usually a safe-zone. I can hide from my own issues and just enjoy life, napping, wrestling with the nephew and niece and such. My brother-in-law (BIL) took me to the VW dealership and I picked up my car. As this chapter closed, I was having the “sigh of relief” moment at the end of an event, when my phone rang and my sister-in-law (SIL) was looking for my BIL. Apparently as we left the house earlier that day, someone hit the toilet and we all headed out the door. Except, the toilet decided to not turn off and combined with a mild sewer back-up, created the next event of the weekend.
The family discovered inch deep water in the master bath that soaked out into the master bedroom and the first of two of the guest bedrooms and then through the wall and into the living room. The rest of that day was spent tearing up carpets and using water vacuums and huge fans to suck up and disperse as much water as possible.
That, was the rest of the weekend.
So! How was your weekend?
