Notes on vehicles

This morning, as I looked for a place to park at my son’s school when I was dropping him off, I frowned when I noticed that, once again, someone had parked their car in a “pause parking” spot and left their vehicle. We’re not allowed to leave the car when we are in pause parking. I had hoped to park on that side of the parking lot because it would’ve been safer to let my son out of the van instead of his side being where there is oncoming traffic. In the event I’m in such a position, though, I usually have to shove my car door open against the bushes, climb out with branches sticking in my hair and sticking into my back, and act as a barrier for him to pass through on my side to safely cross the lot, where a sign holder is waiting. It’s not the end of the world if I have to park there, though, but it’s still nice when I don’t have to.

And I guess another parent was miffed about someone leaving their parked car in pause parking, too, because I noticed him saying something to me after I watched Jesse go into school and he was walking to that car with a piece of paper in his hand. I watched as he left this piece of paper – possibly an angry note? – on that car and then he got into his car to leave.

As I left the school parking lot, I was wondering what that note said. I also thought how very rare it was for me to see someone leaving a note on a car.

Well, later on that morning, I ended up leaving a note on a car, too – my own!

When I drove Trevor to school later this morning, I noticed there were city workers clearing away tree debris on the ground from when branches had fallen from trees. I made a mental note to take an alternate route on my way home. (I’d rather not drive through areas under construction or where city workers are busy doing things because I don’t want to hold them up or be a problem – or deal with the VERY LARGE vehicles or traffic!). Everything else was fine as I drove Trev to school and dropped her off. But as I was driving home, the steering wheel started to jerk left and right. This was actually something that happened recently as I was driving it before, but it was when there was ice, snow and mush on the roads. I had talked about this with my husband and we both just chalked it up to road conditions. But now it was happening AGAIN! I was confused. Why was this happening? The snow was mostly gone and the ice was definitely gone. It had been only been raining that morning.

Well, I came to find out that it didn’t have ANYTHING to do with road conditions and EVERYTHING to do with the van!

I soon started experiencing a clunking sensation coming from the engine. Then I smelled a foul odor and the speedometer suddenly went berserk. The van started to slow down. Pushing on the brake did nothing and pushing on the gas only irritated the engine even more.

Realizing what was going on, I tried to move the van off to the side of the road – but it only got so far. When the van died, the front was pointed towards the side and the back was sticking out, blocking oncoming traffic. I tried to turn on the emergency lights to let people know I was broken down but nothing was working at that point.

So I sat there, feeling bummed that the van had broken down and that I could not get it home before it died (a feat I HAD managed to accomplish with one other car!). Fortunately, it broke down a couple of blocks from my house, and I thought I might be able to push it home. But when I tried putting it into neutral to push it home, the van would NOT move. It was completely locked right where it was. I tried texting my neighbor for help but didn’t get an answer. Then as I was starting to Google what else I could try doing, I noticed someone stop at the Stop sign near where I was parked and ask if I needed help. I explained that I was having trouble pushing the car to get it out of the way. She promptly got out of her car and I told her I couldn’t move the van at all. She offered to push and instructed me to set it up in such a way where she could get the van to move. As I was doing this, I noticed another car stop behind hers and a man jumped out then ran over to help, too. All three of us worked together and, eventually, the van was completely pushed off the road and onto the side.

I thanked both of them as they left. The man checked to make sure I had a phone before he left. I was so grateful to them for their help! (Eugeneans are AWESOME!) (This was the second time two people offered to help when I had to push a car – the last time was when I ran out of gas and we pushed it to a gas station.)

Then I sat there, trying to figure out what to do. My neighbor still had not answered my text. My husband was at home, sleeping. I didn’t have membership with Triple A to call for help and I was trying to think of if I could text a friend for help.

But then I thought, WHAT help? What could possibly be done now?

I had to think. Should I try again to push it home? Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. We’d been lucky to even get it off the street – and home was 2 blocks away. Should I text a friend for help? But what could a friend do, short of driving me home? I didn’t need a ride home – I could walk it. A friend might be able to get the van towed home, but I wasn’t sure if I was up to staying with the van for who knows how long waiting for a tow truck. But what if it didn’t need a tow truck? What if all it needed was as a simple fix and I could get it running again?

The best thing to do would be to walk home and ask my husband to come look at it. He is VERY GOOD at fixing cars. (Me? Not so much.)
 
Then I realized that I couldn’t leave the van here like this. I mean, what if a police officer came along and thought it was abandoned? Or what if the owner of the property saw a suspicious vehicle parked like this and reported it? I would have to leave a note.
 
I checked my phone to see that once again I had no messages, then took out of my purse a small notebook and pen. On a piece of paper I wrote “BROKE DOWN -- WALKING TO GET HELP” and I left it on the van.

Then I started to walk home but then I noticed something on the ground. I stood there to get a good look at it. It really looked like a metal part of a car. I moved it with my shoe to confirm it was indeed a hard thing then bent over to pick it up. It slipped right out of my fingers and I noticed it was covered with oil.

Yep, I sighed. Part of a car. It must’ve come off when the van was in the street, breaking down. I grabbed a paper towel I had in my pocket and used it to pick up the metal round thingy. I cradled it in the paper towel since it was all oily and put it on the van’s windshield, at the bottom.

Then I walked home. When I got home, I woke my husband up and told him what happened. We walked back to inspect the van and I told him about the part I found. He looked at it and then he found another part on the street. We checked the surrounding area to make sure nothing else had fallen off of the engine then he took a look at the van. He told me he suspected what it was then that he would come back with a tarp so he could get a better look. We walked back home and I started to get my breakfast as he left. When he came back later, he told me it was the CV shaft that had broken and that we would have to get it towed home. He also explained there were two ways it could’ve been broken and that a professional mechanic would have to look at it to determine what exactly was wrong. So he took a shower and he was going to leave to go arrange for the van to be towed to a shop. Unfortunately, he had car trouble too (ugh!!) but after THAT was taken care of, he left. Later, when he came back, he confirmed the van was now at a shop and that we’d learn either tomorrow or Friday what was wrong with it and how much it would cost to get repaired.

So it looks like I am now without transportation for a while. Who knows for how long. My husband will be driving the kids to school until I can get another car to drive. I don’t know about Jesse’s basketball practices, though. Or even his gymnastics class, if I am without transportation for that long. And although I had no idea how long I’ll be without a car, I emailed Jesse’s basketball coach to let him know the situation and that Jesse won’t be able to make it to basketball practice this week. He has a game on Saturday and my husband will have to take him to that. (Good grief, this is the SECOND TIME I have had a transportation issue interfere with Jesse getting to basketball practice!!)

But hopefully, it won’t be like this for too long. Hopefully I can get new transportation soon. Or the van won’t cost an arm and a leg to fix. We have only had the van for a year and while I don’t mind if we have to say goodbye to it, it would be nice if it had lasted longer. I hope that will be the case.

New wheels

A few days before Christmas, we had 2 bad things happen. We were hit with a financial crisis that meant we had no money to buy the kids anymore Christmas gifts aside from the one already bought. The second thing that happened? My car died! (Yeah, I know. I have bad luck. Sometimes I think I am jinxed!)

When my car died, I had only one thought: Thank goodness the kids only had one day left of school. My husband took them to school the next day (I usually do it because he works at night) but I thought I would be getting a new vehicle soon.

Well, soon turned into 2 weeks. They were VERY hard weeks to get through! It got to a point where I told my husband I was gonna turn violent if I didn’t get out of the house, so he drove me to the library and dropped me off there, where I spent a couple of hours writing and reading/researching. But I later needed to get out again and it just went all wrong.

And the problem is, my kids were missing out on their lessons. My oldest has violin lessons. Her violin teacher started driving out to our house since I had no way to get to hers. And Jesse takes gymnastics classes, but he missed out on a couple because I couldn’t drive him there. (His classes are in the early evening.) It was so hard for him to NOT go to gymnastics, because he loves it so much. But, thankfully, I have arranged for him to take make-up classes.

And Jennifer will be going to her violin lessons again because, as of today, I finally have a new car! Woo-hoo!

It’s not a brand new car. It’s used. We actually got it from my husband’s co-worker. And, it’s a minivan! I have never driven a minivan before and today was the first time I ever drove one. Of course I was scared but I did it anyway. I HAD to see if I could do it. And I can! (So cool to stand up to what scares us and just DOING it anyway! Seriously, I surprised myself.) Driving the minivan is AWESOME! I love my minivan. It’s kinda like driving a small bus. I think that since my last car was a long car (a sedan), it gave me good practice in being able to maneuver a minivan. However, this time, I am NOT going to put myself into a situation where I have to drive forward-backward-forward-backward a bazillion times a la Austin Powers in order to get out of a parking space. I am starting to keep an eye out for parking spaces where I can easily pull the vehicle out of its spot or, even better, away from a curb. This change in parking has also changed how I drop Jesse off at school. Before, I would park in the row of spaces with all the other cars by the walkway that was meant for children to safely walk to the school. But now I’ll park in another area closer to the front of his school and he can get out on the side where there are bushes, not cars driving past, then go to the walkway where there is a crossing guard. So, it’s all good!

I still need to get used to driving this kind of vehicle but so far, so good. I am really thrilled to be driving again and having the freedom to come and go whenever for whatever. (Gotta have my freedom!!) I also like how it’s so roomy and comfortable. And the heater works a lot better, too. The steering in my last car was messed up because of that accident when I slid on the ice so it’s also nice to not have to deal with steering problems in this car. I just need to drive more carefully and watch out for icy roads!

And the best part is that THIS vehicle is travel-worthy. I want us to take a family vacation this year and now we can with this vehicle. It runs great and there are no engine problems so I look forward to traveling in it on the road someday soon. Very soon, I hope!

It was hard to wait for a new vehicle but it was definitely worth the wait. I’m thrilled with my new car (which I have not named yet but I’m considering the name Chloe) and I look forward to being able to get to where I need to go again!

Back to jumping in and out of my car!

On Friday, I happened to notice that the tags on my car expired the next day. I would’ve gone out to the DMV then and there to renew my tags, except that they were renovating the Eugene office and it was closed. I just didn’t have the time to go to the one in Springfield. So I was without a car over the weekend. On Monday, in late afternoon (as waiting at the DMV for HOURS usually goes), I had new tags on my car again. Yay! I could drive again!

And I was driving around last night to take care of a few things I couldn’t get done over the weekend. It felt GREAT to be driving again! (As much as I complain about having to constantly jump in and out of my car for some errand or another, I DO love to drive!)

But this morning, I was really starting to wonder if driving again was actually a good thing.

I had remarked on Facebook about how it was nice that I won’t have to deal with idiot drivers at the school parking lots for one day out of the week (yesterday). Well, as it happens, the first day I’m driving the kids to school again, I had to deal with one of them!

When I got to Jesse’s school this morning, I was in the parking lot behind another driver, who was giving someone room to pull out of their spot. I turned just to see a driver backing out of their spot – and almost right into my car!! I screamed and honked the horn at the same time. Thank God they stopped – if not, they would’ve hit the side of the car my son was sitting on!

The whole event was terrifying but, poor Jesse, he was scared to death. He sat there with his eyes and mouth open wide. We definitely gave each other a bigger hug than usual before he got out of the car and went into school!

Well, despite THAT incident, I kept driving today. I had more errands to run!

By the time it was dark and I thought I was in for the day, and just as I was about to relax for the night, I remembered that I promised I’d do something for Jennifer today. Hadn’t done it YET! I was tired from running around and it was already dark, but I decided to do this anyway. I told her I would do it, so I was going to do it! (Get a piece of her art she wants to enter in a contest scanned. A scanner is at the top of my Christmas list!) So I told her to help out with her brother, as her dad was in the bedroom sick, and I’d return shortly with her scan.

When I got to Office Depot, however, I noticed a big sign on the building: “Moving Sale.” Hmm, I thought, they’re moving? I hurried through the sprinkling of rain with Jen’s picture against my chest (didn’t want to get it wet!) and went inside to find a store stripped of practically almost everything. Wow, what a sight to see.

I also happened to notice the sign saying some Office Depot services were unavailable due to the pending move. I asked about the move and picked up a flyer with the new store location on it. And, unfortunately, scanning was not available because of the disassembling of equipment. (They are moving in 11 days!) I happened to notice a lot of stuff marked down and nodded in understanding. It was less stuff they’d have to pack if they could get rid of it! One of the items marked down was 500-sheet packages of paper. It was only $1.09!! Cool! I grabbed a couple (one for each of my kids) and paid for them. As I walked back out to the car, the drizzle was starting to turn into serious rain business. I clutched Jen’s art against my chest again and looked for my car.

Wow. I had the foresight to park all the way at the end of the parking lot!

I rolled my eyes and grumbled to myself Brilliant! as I hurried to my car. After I got in the car, I pondered what to do next in getting Jen’s picture scanned. I could go to the Kinko’s/Fed Ex store, but the last time I went there to get something scanned, the technician did a poor job because the scanned picture had the black bar faintly showing in the background. I really didn’t feel like driving downtown for a botched scan job! I would think of something.

I didn’t get Jen’s picture scanned, but at least I scored a sweet deal on paper. Nice way to end the day!


UPDATE:

The day after I posted this, I arrived at Jesse's school parking lot to find more school staff out there monitoring traffic (including the principal!) and more traffic cones set out. I felt A LOT safer driving through the parking lot because of these efforts! And it continued for the rest of the week, too. I am so relieved. It is a lot better now to get through all the traffic in dropping off and picking up of my son at the school. Also, on Thursday, Jesse forgot his jacket when school let out so we went back to the school and I instructed him to go through the special walking area they have set up on the parking lot that is just for people and it was safer for him to go this route to get to the school building from the parking lot. I just don't feel safe having him walk by himself through the parking lot when there are all these cars around. Well, he did this both ways and it was a lot safer for him. So from now on, I am going to try to park next to one of these two walking spaces and he can SAFELY walk to the school building without the danger of being hit by a car. I just hope drivers will remember to look behind them AND check their mirrors before pulling out of their parking spaces so they don't hit anyone behind them.

Gas disappearing from my car?

Today is the last day of February, and guess how much money was spent on gas for my car? It was $65!!! That is the most we have ever spent on gas for this car in one month.

As the needle on the car’s gas gauge kept going down to “E,” I started to get suspicious that maybe there was something wrong. The car has about 25 miles per gallon. It could not be using up gas THAT quickly! I worried that maybe there was something damaged that caused a gas leak, or something.

I brought this to my husband’s attention after putting gas in the tank YET AGAIN and he looked at the car. Turns out the car was low on coolant and, according to what I was told, this was why the engine burned up more of the gas.

After he looked at the car and fixed the problem, I once again kept my eye on that needle as I drove the car. Thankfully, two days later, the car hasn’t run out of gas again. I guess that means that the problem is fixed. Yay! Glad that’s over with. But I’ll still keep am eye on things with the car, just in case anything else turns up. (And make sure the car has enough coolant!)

I did a bit of research on this and found out that two other things that can cause this to happen are a dirty fuel system or a defective fuel gauge sender.

The two Kims

Getting Jesse off to preschool in the mornings can be pretty trying. Sometimes, instead of climbing into his seat when I open the car doors (mine and his), he’ll climb into my seat and play with the seat adjustment buttons. Or he’ll stand around chattering instead of getting into the car. This morning was no different and it didn’t help that I have been sick with a cold all week. I had a hard time getting him IN the car and a hard time getting him out. I was also a little mad that we got there late.

So I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to take my keys out of the ignition until ... after I closed his car door shut. The car was now locked up – with my keys inside! ARGH!

When I got Jesse inside the preschool, I explained to his preschool teacher Kim (who is also my friend) about what happened. She offered to call a tow truck service for me but I told her I didn’t have any money to pay for it. Then I asked her if I could use a wire hanger, thinking I could try to unlock it with that. But after she handed me the hanger, she asked if maybe I should try contacting my husband. I told her he was asleep. (He works the night shift and I usually wake him up at 11ish.) We considered maybe I could find some way to wake him up or get in. (I DID try texting him but, predictably, there was no answer.) So I decided I’d go for it; try walking home and either pound hard enough on the door to wake him up (he is also deaf) or try to break into my house to wake him up. I asked Kim if it was okay the car was in her driveway until I could move it out and she was okay with that.

Then I was on my way, walking home! (As Kim noted, I was dressed for the occasion: I was wearing exercise pants and my running shoes. Good thing, too!) It was quite a walk from the preschool to get home but the weather was a beautiful 61 degrees and the sun was shining. The walk was just a little over 1 ½ miles.

On my way home, I passed the Little Free Library that is on our street. I decided to check it out since it’s been a while since I have last paid it a visit. Several months ago, both Jennifer and I donated books there, one of my books, The Yellow Rose, and her signing and donating a copy of Dogs Forever: Poems for the Dog Person that she co-wrote with me. I checked and those books weren’t there anymore. (I hope whoever is reading them is enjoying them!) I borrowed a copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo then I was back on my walk.

When I got home, I tried to pound on the door as well as my son’s bedroom window (since his room is right across from ours) but that was not enough to wake up my sleeping husband. I sighed, shook my head then muttered to myself, “Looks like I’m going to have to break into my own house.” (Side note: This is not EXACTLY “my own house.” We’re renters.) As a kid, I often got locked out of the house or would come home to find everybody gone. I often jimmied open a window and climbed inside.

But it’s been YEARS since I have jimmied open any windows. Or climbed fences. Or picked any locks!

So I tried opening a gate that we had on the side of the house. The gate was BLOCKED. So much for that idea!

Then I went around, examining the fence. Would I be able to climb over this thing? I even debated using my neighbor’s fence to help me climb over but wasn’t sure if I could balance myself very well on that. And, anyway, the fence itself was not very stable. That wouldn’t work.

I pulled out my phone and it was THEN that I realized that, in all the craziness of trying to get the gate open or try to figure out how to climb the fence, I somehow lost the book I’d been carrying. I started looking all over for it but couldn’t find it anywhere! I started to feel bad; this book was BORROWED. It was not mine to keep. I’d have to return it at some point.

AND I’D LOST IT!!!

I started trying to log in at Facebook on my phone, planning to send Kim a message, silently cursing my luck. Maybe the book had fallen out of my hand while I was trying to open the gate. It had to be around here somewhere.

Oh, but it was about to get more interesting. I could NOT send Kim a message ... because the battery on my phone was low and I could NOT log into Facebook. Gah! (Well, I wasn’t sure if Kim would even see my message, anyway.)

I tried pounding on the door again, on the very, very OFF chance my husband would feel my pounding and wake up. (We used to awaken when someone was pounding at our door.) But of course that did not work.

I stood there looking around, sighing. Then I noticed one of the neighbors was on the back porch step, pointing in my direction as he talked to someone in his house. I gritted my teeth and wanted to scream at him, “I’m not trying to break into this house; I LIVE here!” But decided not to when he went back inside.

Then I realized something; maybe I could try to text a friend who might be able to help me out somehow. I tried to think of who I could text and decided I would send a message to my OTHER friend Kim. She told me before she was willing to help me out last time when I had car trouble (I was able to figure out what was wrong with the car before she answered) so maybe she’d be able to help me out again.

I sent her a text, praying it would go through despite the low battery. It did, and a few minutes later, Kim #2 texted back saying she’d be there in a few minutes. I pumped a “yes!” into the air, replied with my thanks then sat down and waited. Even though this was a frustrating situation, I still had to laugh about it. It’s like one thing after another went wrong. This was CRAZY! But also a little funny.

But then things got better. Kim arrived and I told her about what happened. She drove me back to the preschool and when she parked the car, I was mentally and physically preparing for a workout with that wire hanger. But then Kim got my attention and told me she had AAA and could help me out. I was surprised; she could DO that? Really and truly??

She said yes and we got out of the car. Her phone battery was low and she asked if she could use mine to call AAA with. I was doubtful if my phone would even work but handed it to her, anyway. And thankfully, it DID work and she could place a call for a tow truck. Yay! They told her a truck would be there in 30 minutes so we hung around and made small talk.

Guess what? The truck was there in FIVE MINUTES. Wow! We both cheered it got there so fast!

When the tow truck driver got out, he didn’t look at me or even say a word. He just got to work. I was looking at him like “uh, hi?” and almost felt a scolding from my mother for being rude and not properly greeting someone. But he smiled and nodded at us when Kim and I cheered after he got the door open. I thanked him then hurriedly ducked into the car to grab my keys (quick! Before the magic went away!) then cheered again as I looked at Kim happily holding up the keys. (Thank YOU, Triple A!) I thanked Kim for helping me out, we hugged and she was on her way.

I tightly clutched my keys as I closed the car door then went inside the preschool. Jesse cheered when he saw me holding up the keys and Kim #1 was happy, too. I told her about what happened and we were both relieved that I was able to have a tow truck driver come out to help without being charged for it.

Now I was back in my car and driving home. I did enjoy my walk but it was good to be driving again. (I love walking, but I love driving, too!) When I got home, I texted Kim #2 to let her know I was home now then charged my phone. I also went out back looking for the book. Sure enough, there it was on the ground. I HAD dropped it when trying to open the gate!

Later, my husband asked about the texts that were on his phone. I told him about what happened and he said pounding on the door or window was NOT going to wake him up. Also, there would be NO WAY I could get into the house even if I got into the back yard. (Well, ya know, the bathroom window IS kinda broken...)

But I know all that NOW. And now we’re going to get a spare car key made. Maybe it’d be a good idea to get one made for the house, too.