The Break Down

The day before Thanksgiving, we were headed out to Harrisburg, where my mom lives. We decided to take Brian's car. It was a nice ride -- sunny, warm.

About 15 minutes from my mom's house, Brian's car starts overheating. And, I mean overheating. Smoke is pouring out, and we're in the far left lane of a 4-lane highway. So, I roll my window down and we fight the cars all the way over to the right shoulder. Oh, did I mention that we're on a huge bridge -- that shakes. Ha, ha. Well, since the car is saying that coolent levels are low, Brian lets the car cool a bit and goes to refill the coolent (with extras from the trunk). But, he quickly looks around and says to me, "We not going anywhere." Our radiator house blew, and that is what the coolent goes through. Therefore, more coolent will not do the job.

Thankfully, a highway safety patrol truck (with towing capabilities) quickly sees us and comes to our rescue. The catch is that he can only take us off the highway, to the bottom of the closest exit ramp -- where nothing is of course. So, we finally coordinate a second tow truck, which takes us to a Pep Boys. We have hopes that Pep Boys can fix the car that night (as they had said over the phone), but alas they don't have the part we need. Oh, and this is hilarious: I ask the tow truck dude how much it will be -- he says $70 in cash (no checks). Brian and I of course don't have one dollar on us. Thankfully, my mom who came to get us had $65 in cash, and scrounged up $5 of change in the car. That poor two-truck dude, and what a mom! I wanted to give him a tip, so he finally let me write a check for that. What a night!

So, we left Pep Boys because Thanksgiving dinner was on the table with hungry people back at my mom's house. The car had to wait. We were a bit frazzled, but enjoyed family and great food. Then, Brian got on the phone with all the local automotive places, trying to find the part we needed before everything closed at 9pm for the holiday. Brian wanted to get back home that night. You have to know that Brian has some car knowledge from working at Sears Auto for a few years. He's certain we can do the job on our own. So, good old Advanced Auto Parts has what we need. My mom takes us there. $30 later, and we are loaded with 3 gallons of collent, a radiator hose, a razor blade, and 2 new clamps. We're set. Back to the car. Brian and I joked that I was the nurse and he was the surgeon. I held the flashlight (because it was 9:30pm), and he began the dirty work. I also assisted with cutting the raditor hose to the right length. And, I cleaned everything up. Brian was amazing. In 10 minutes, we were ready to go. And, after much prayers, we ended up getting home safely around midnight. God is so good. And, we were so happy it was only $100, rather than the cost of a dealership (who wouldn't even have been able to work on it until the weekend!).

And, that is an adventure with Brian and Mary.