I have been car-less for most of this week. On Tuesday, while David was driving, the engine seized without warning. It was a new, and valuable, experience for him to wrestle a car out of traffic and bring it to a stop without power steering or brakes functioning. Over the next few days we got more and more bad news. It was the air conditioner compressor. Dead. In it's death, it yanked a major belt out of commission. (And we haven't used the AC for months!) Next we found out that the condenser, the ducts, and the rear AC something all had lots of metal shards in them. Somehow, there had been metal grinding on metal for a long time, and we hadn't heard any unusual sound or noticed any symptom. Final repair bill: $4,000!
Today was to be our challenging day with just one car. The Professor had to get to work, Greta had to get to work soon after, and David had a gig across town. My plan was to make a loop: first The Professor, then Greta, then home to collect David, then the funeral (gig). On our way to the interstate we heard the traffic report and something about an accident involving a bus. After a bit, it dawned on us that this was something major. About that time we rounded a curve and came to a halt in gridlocked traffic in all directions. We still had some miles before we reached the interstate, so we immediately changed plans. We turned around, and headed to Greta's work first. Amazingly, traffic was gridlocked in the opposite direction of normal commute traffic too, but we bypassed a lot of it by detouring through neighborhoods. By this time, we were getting a more complete picture: "our" interstate, I-75, was closed down in both directions because a tour bus had accidentally exited the freeway on the HOV lane's exit, then gone over the side of the overpass, dropping 30 feet to the interstate below. It was just a few miles beyond The Professor's office, so our trip there looked to be long. Next we went home to collect David and hoped that we could find some relatively clear back roads to The Professor's office. If not, The Professor would be accompanying us to the funeral! We DID make it to his office, and on to the funeral just in time. I finally climbed out of the car at 1:00.
Today was to be our challenging day with just one car. The Professor had to get to work, Greta had to get to work soon after, and David had a gig across town. My plan was to make a loop: first The Professor, then Greta, then home to collect David, then the funeral (gig). On our way to the interstate we heard the traffic report and something about an accident involving a bus. After a bit, it dawned on us that this was something major. About that time we rounded a curve and came to a halt in gridlocked traffic in all directions. We still had some miles before we reached the interstate, so we immediately changed plans. We turned around, and headed to Greta's work first. Amazingly, traffic was gridlocked in the opposite direction of normal commute traffic too, but we bypassed a lot of it by detouring through neighborhoods. By this time, we were getting a more complete picture: "our" interstate, I-75, was closed down in both directions because a tour bus had accidentally exited the freeway on the HOV lane's exit, then gone over the side of the overpass, dropping 30 feet to the interstate below. It was just a few miles beyond The Professor's office, so our trip there looked to be long. Next we went home to collect David and hoped that we could find some relatively clear back roads to The Professor's office. If not, The Professor would be accompanying us to the funeral! We DID make it to his office, and on to the funeral just in time. I finally climbed out of the car at 1:00.
1 comment:
Next time...call an alternative family member to get help....ie us!!
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