Tag: car troubles

More car woes & Judi learns to shoot!

Yesterday was judiang‘s last day in the area, and she wanted to do something she’d never done before – shoot a gun. My dad, owner of several weapons (funny hobby for a pacifist, eh?) said he’d oblige her if we met him at his sportsman club (which we’ve had to become members of to join him for the day). We agreed at 11am to meet.

My plan was to stop at the gas station where you can join the Newport Sportsmen Club and have Judi and I become members. Then meet dad at the range. My car, alas, had other ideas.

When we were just north of Newport, I once again shifted into 5th only to find the gear shift kept on going. And once again, I couldn’t shift into any other gear. Joy joy, I was stuck in 4th gear and no easy way to contact dad. So while driving, I called Baker’s auto shop to let ’em know it broke again, then drove through Newport – the only stoplight being nice to be green when we went through – and on south to the hairpin turn onto the road where the gun club was.

Once I got to the drive, I once again did a quick turn (well, not fast, just trying not to slow down too much) and headed onto the parking lot. My panic brain was still functioning and it was doing a great job in navigating the car in 4th gear, but wasn’t thinking clearly re: tow trucks. When we passed the alcove where dad was parked, I decided I’d turn around at the parking lot & park by him. And after I’d turned around and got back on the drive, I realized how stupid that was from a tow-truck perspective.

So back down the drive and onto the road in the other direction this time. Thankfully, there was a field ahead with a pull-in spot, so I pulled in, turned around, and back on the road, all with very little slowing. (There was an incline during this where Judi and I were sending forth MANY positive vibes to my little car “I think I can! I think I can!”) Anyhoo, I got back to the driving range parking lot and parked in a spot that was very easily accessible by a tow truck.

That adventure paused, we walked down to the range where dad was setting up. We all signed in as members (the check is in the mail, seriously) and Judi was introduced to pistols and revolvers. Dad had three .22s (a 9-shooter and a 6-shooter, both revolvers, and an 8-shooter pistol – a cute little thing), two .357s, and a 45. He fired the biggies, we stuck to the wimpy 22s. 🙂

My favorite of the lot is the 9-shooter, for concept alone. I mean, if you were in a shoot out at the OK Coral, you’d want that 9-shooter there to throw the others off guard. 😉 But both Judi and I did much better aiming with the 6-shooter (longer barrel). When we fired the little pistol, dad moved us up to about 10 feet from the target. But with the others, we shot from 25 feet away.

You might be surprised to learn that Judi turns out to be a good shot! On her Take Home target (the one with bragging rights) she got 10 out of 12 on the target! (I only got 8 out of 12 on my Take Home Target, but I did get several close to the bullseye.) The targets? Old paper plates that dad colored a big black circle in the center of. No expense spared for us! 😉

Anyhoo, the shooting lesson concluded, we returned to Adventures with Automobiles. Dad drove me further south until I had a cell phone signal, where I proceeded to call AAA again. This time with a AAA card on me! 🙂 Although the area with the gun club has no cell phone service, the AAA lady assured me they’d still come to pick up the car. Dad returned me there and then took Judi back to the Lake so she could get our stuff. I waited with my car.

It wasn’t long of a wait – only 20 minutes or so. This time I got a regular tow truck and he had her hooked up quite quickly. Then on to Baker’s for them to look again. It turns out there are TWO cables that run the shifter. And the second one had broken. Although the car was done yesterday afternoon, I haven’t had a chance to get there & pick it up, but I’m guessing it costs the same as the first one. Ouch!

Dad once again loaned me the use of his truck and so I drove us to Friendly’s for lupper (we’d missed lunch thanks to all of the car chaos). And afterward, to the Columbus airport. Judi got off OK (and home safely) and I returned home to some kitty cats in need of attention. 🙂 And then today I worked an 8 hour shift with no lunch break. But Garry (the new tech) took me out for supper at Indians Pizza, so that works for me!

Evening Geeking – Trina & Judi’s Interesting Adventure

Ah, the joys of geeking in the wild. judiang and I are sitting out by the fire pit enjoying the fire and listening to the evening Cicada Concert. And geeking on our laptops.

So while I’m here, I’ll continue my tale about Saturday. When I last left you faithful readers, we had gone to the Toodleedoo Zoo. We found I-75 quite easily and headed down south. And we got to my house in just over 2 hours.

I wanted to stop home (which is further south than the cottage at the Lake) because (a) I wanted to check on the kitties and (b) I wanted to pick up the beer bread mix that I had from Tastefully Simple. Judi had tried the beer bread at the Vendors hall at the Fair and actually liked it. (She who poo poos anything beery.)

The kitties were just fine when I checked and I got the mix and some truffles (Russell Stover, not the really good ones from Trader Joe’s that I’ve been hoarding – I like these people, but not THAT much!) and we headed back north. And soon after we passed through Covington, I went to shift into 5th gear and the stick just keep going. And I didn’t go into 5th. Yikes!

My first thought was “This isn’t happening – I’m actually just dreaming” and the second thought was “Oh shit! I need to pull over safely!” and the third was “Crap, I just paid my college tuition and now my clutch has gone out!” We were very close to Ebbert’s grains, which has a big grain elevator, and I started to pull over. I was in panic mode and missed the driveway, but thankfully also missed the ditch. I pulled up near the house next to the grain elevator and stopped the car.

So, what’s a girl to do when her car has gone kaput? Call AAA? No, call her dad and he’ll tell her to call AAA. Heh. Of course, as I was packed light for the outting, I didn’t have both of my wallets with me. And my secondary wallet had my AAA card in it. Thankfully, dad gave me the number to call and the lady was able to look me up on the computer.

The AAA lady wasn’t sure I’d be all that easy to find and kept trying to get more information about my location, but a big ass grain elevator is a very noticeable landmark, so I wasn’t all that concerned. Eventually a dispatcher called to say that a tow truck would be by in 45 minutes, so Judi and I sat & waited.

After 45 minutes, an SUV showed up and the fellow inside asked if we were OK. Said that his parents were concerned (they lived in the house we were parked near) and called him to check on us. We assured him that AAA had sent us a tow truck, and just then, the truck arrived. It was a flatbed and the fellow running it was a master at flatbed tow trucks. He had the car up on it in 5 minutes, and that’s even with it resisting the pull since he couldn’t get it into neutral.

I get 5 free miles of towing and every mile beyond that is $2.50. So I had him tow it into Pleasant Hill to my auto shop and that was only $10. We rode in the truck as he zipped through Covington and then through P. Hill. It was an amazing ride.

I used the night drop off box to inform Baker’s about what happened to my car (and Judi was amazed – had never seen anything like it before) and then we gathered up our stuff and walked home.

Dad was waiting on me at his house and he gave me the key to his truck. Then Judi and I headed north again. And this time successfully. Yay!

The car, as it turned out, needed a new shifting cable. The boys worked on it today and it was done in time for me to come back & get it. So now I have my car back. And it wasn’t the $900 I feared it would be (they say the clutch is still good) but rather half of that.

Sunday was relatively uneventful. We had a Girls Day Out here at the Lake. Aunt Becky, Deanna, Cheryl and mom (with dad as an unofficial girl for the day – hey, he owns all this shit) came round for steaks and card playing. Becky beat us all at Shanghai Rum, but Deanna came in second, which we think is the best she’s done yet. And today was also uneventful and relaxing.

But now the fire is getting low and the mosquitoes are getting vicious, so I think I’ll wind this down.