Detour
My friend Scott and I jinxed our drive home from Utah on Sunday. In a big way, too.
We were at the Slowest McDonald’s In The World (located just off the highway in Flagstaff, AZ) and talked about what time we would get home. Our estimate was about 8 PM. Not bad considering we were coming all the way from Park City in one day.
After getting dinner to go, we continued down I-17 and I noticed that the A/C was blowing warmer. The Rocket Scientist was driving Tracy’s car and I thought he had turned it down since he gets colder more than the rest of us. Then, it got a little warmer and I saw him adjust it so I really thought he was doing it.
Until he said, “Uh oh, I’m at full temperature.” (Disclosure before TRS busts me on inaccurate reporting - all quotes are paraphrased.) Tracy said, “If it were Goat’s car, he’d turn the heat on to cool the engine.” TRS did just that but it didn’t help.
He was thinking we were very close to Sunset Point and that maybe we could get that far but no go as the temp didn’t go down. He put the car in neutral and coasted as long as he could before we saw a good spot to pull over. He got the car slowed down and ended up going a little past a carved out flat spot on the side of the road so he turned into that which made us face against traffic but safely out of harm’s way.
We all hopped out of the car to see steam/smoke coming from the engine. Not good. TRS popped the hood and we let it cool down a bit before exploring. TRS looked at the reservoir and it was full of coolant. Scott and I looked under the car and couldn’t see anything leaking. There was clearly a lot of condensation from somewhere because the engine was wet.
Uh oh.
What do you think?
We were at the Slowest McDonald’s In The World (located just off the highway in Flagstaff, AZ) and talked about what time we would get home. Our estimate was about 8 PM. Not bad considering we were coming all the way from Park City in one day.
After getting dinner to go, we continued down I-17 and I noticed that the A/C was blowing warmer. The Rocket Scientist was driving Tracy’s car and I thought he had turned it down since he gets colder more than the rest of us. Then, it got a little warmer and I saw him adjust it so I really thought he was doing it.
Until he said, “Uh oh, I’m at full temperature.” (Disclosure before TRS busts me on inaccurate reporting - all quotes are paraphrased.) Tracy said, “If it were Goat’s car, he’d turn the heat on to cool the engine.” TRS did just that but it didn’t help.
He was thinking we were very close to Sunset Point and that maybe we could get that far but no go as the temp didn’t go down. He put the car in neutral and coasted as long as he could before we saw a good spot to pull over. He got the car slowed down and ended up going a little past a carved out flat spot on the side of the road so he turned into that which made us face against traffic but safely out of harm’s way.
We all hopped out of the car to see steam/smoke coming from the engine. Not good. TRS popped the hood and we let it cool down a bit before exploring. TRS looked at the reservoir and it was full of coolant. Scott and I looked under the car and couldn’t see anything leaking. There was clearly a lot of condensation from somewhere because the engine was wet.
Uh oh.
The four of us looked at the engine for a bit then TRS went to open the valve to the radiator. The other three of us took a simultaneous step back. No sense in burning all of us up in case it exploded, right? Fortunately, it didn’t erupt.
We had bottled water and TRS started pouring it in to the radiator. We used several bottles then started taking melted water out of our coolers. The temperature gauge went down to half way but that was it. Many bottles later, the radiator vomited up some liquid. Scott did another look under the car and saw that fluid was now coming out of the radiator. Uh oh.
We had bottled water and TRS started pouring it in to the radiator. We used several bottles then started taking melted water out of our coolers. The temperature gauge went down to half way but that was it. Many bottles later, the radiator vomited up some liquid. Scott did another look under the car and saw that fluid was now coming out of the radiator. Uh oh.
What do you think?
Tracy has AAA so she got out her card to call them. I would have called sooner with the idea that we could have canceled but the boys wanted to see if they could fix it or at least get us to Sunset Point. But, that’s just me.
TRS walked back up the highway to find a mile marker and eventually came riding back in the car of some Good Samaritans who had picked him up. The driver had a GPS so he found Sunset Point and said that was mile marker 268 and calculated we were at 264.
Tracy called AAA and more than once since she got disconnected. Eventually, she got through to them the situation and they told her they would call a tow truck and have DPS make a safety stop to check on us. They also told her the tow truck wouldn’t be able to transport all of us, though.
There was lots of confusion because she’s not familiar with the area, the traffic was drowning out the phone and TRS was telling her stuff too fast to absorb and relay. The latter is my impression, anyway.
I made an executive decision and called Steven and told him to get in my Mom’s car and start heading to Flagstaff. He gave me all sorts of grief about not knowing where to go, where we were, etc. but I just told him to take the 101 to I-17 and head north and to call for further instruction after that.
To make matters more interesting, Scott and I were almost out of battery power on our phones. Tracy was low and TRS had two bars. Great. Tracy did some charging while we waited for rescue and we had time to wait. Plenty of time. No DPS, no tow truck and no Steven though I expected him to take the longest to get there.
Finally, Tracy got a call from the tow truck driver asking where we were since we weren’t near mile marker 264. Oops. The dude with the GPS should have counted up instead of down in his calculation and none of us realized the mistake. 264 would have put us south of Sunset Point and we were north. Since it’s a divided highway at that point, the driver had to go past us and come back.
By this time, it was dark and we were sitting there by the light of the hazards. TRS called Steven to tell him were further away than originally thought. He was still a ways away, though. We had told him that we’d ask DPS the best spot for him to turn around but they hadn’t shown yet so we knew we had to call him again.
Oh, and there was rattling in the bushes by us. I asked TRS if it was a cicada and he said it was that or a cricket. Then, he changed it to an axe wielding rattlesnake just to mock me. I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Finally, we saw DPS backing up to us with the flashing lights on. He’d gone past us. Just as he pulled back to our location, the tow truck showed up with his flashing lights on. Now, if only we’d had Steven.
The cop put his spotlight on us and Tracy went over to talk to him. Basically, he scolded her for us being so far off the road and having the car turned in the wrong direction. He drove off right after that. Nice and thanks for caring. We’re not even sure if he was the car dispatched to check on us from AAA since they hadn’t called us back to verify our location at all.
The tow truck driver was much nicer and said, in effect, that that particular cop was not the nicest one around and that our car going the other way had made him suspect we rolled it. Whatever, he just wasn’t nice.
We explained to the driver what had happened and that we wanted the car towed to the dealership in Scottsdale since they last worked on it. Oh, yeah, Tracy had just had the car in the shop for repairs.
The driver actually had a flat bed. When we told him we had someone picking us up, he asked why. Tracy told him AAA said he couldn’t take all of us and he said he could. His options were two of us in the cab and two in the car on the flatbed or even all four of us in the car on the flatbed.
No frakking way was I riding in a car on the back of a flatbed on I-17 at night. Not going to happen. I was so glad I’d called Steven. Who at this point had just passed the nearest road south of us that the driver could have taken us to so he had to continue north then turn around. Karl had looked at the GPS on his Droid after plugging it in (that was dead while his Blackberry was still working) and told Steven to go up to 169 but the driver told him a closer spot to turn around. If possible, Steven was even more annoyed at the whole thing because we called him several times in all to modify the plan.<
In theory, the driver wasn’t supposed to leave us there but also wasn’t supposed to wait either. Fortunately, he offered to wait since Steven was close and Steven actually pulled up as he was finishing loading the car.
Now for some logistics. My car was at Tracy and Scott’s house. Scott’s car was at the airport since he’d flown up on Saturday and we’d driven up on Thursday. We had my Mom’s car to drive home in and Tracy’s car on a flatbed going to the dealership.
After some deliberation, we decided that Scott, Steven and I would head out in my Mom’s car to Tracy and Scott’s house where we’d lose Steven and pick up my car which I would then drive to the airport so Scott could pick up his car. TRS would go with Tracy with her car to the dealership. He was protection so she wouldn’t have to hang out there alone. Then, Scott and I would both drive our cars back to the dealership so Scott could get Tracy and I could get TRS and we could all finally go home.
Steven flat out refused to drive back to the Valley so I took the wheel. I was so thankful I’d had a nap while we were driving through Utah. TRS was thinking the same thing about my nap in the other vehicle. I hauled ass down the hill and had Steven call TRS as we were getting off the 101 near Tracy and Scott’s house. The others were just getting on the 101 from I-17 so I decided we’d go to the dealership so they wouldn’t have to wait for us to return from the airport.
Scott and I got to the dealership about five minutes before the flatbed. I’d managed to get a message out that we were waiting but my phone didn’t live long enough to get TRS’ reply that they were almost there.
It seemed to take forever for the car to get unloaded and the bill settled. We probably could have made the airport run and gotten there before the driver left but, oh well. We unloaded our suitcases but left the coolers and chairs in Tracy’s car since we had to condense down from a Subaru Forester to a Hyundai Sonata. Tracy and Scott are coming to Karl’s on Friday so we could easily wait for that stuff until then.
Finally, we were off to the airport with TRS driving. He’s not too familiar with the airport area, especially coming from south Scottsdale and with all the construction. I was glad he was driving, though, as I’d run out of steam. We found Scott’s car, shifted their luggage to it and headed back to Tempe to TRS’ house.
He made quick work of unloading his stuff then I headed home. George was very happy to see me. I didn’t do much more than put on my jammies and plug in my phone. It was now midnight. As I was about to fall asleep, I realized I should probably update Facebook to say I was home since I’d had a running commentary with people on there about our misadventure. Of course, my phone wouldn’t work so I had to get up and log in to my computer in the living room.
One quick update and I was back in bed and asleep in no time. Not for long, though. George apparently missed me and was affection starved. She woke me up three times before 6 AM and insisted on lying on top of me and purring while I petted her for about 10 minutes each time. My baby is spoiled, I admit it.
While it wasn’t the most fun way to end our trip, we consoled ourselves with the idea that it could have been worse. We could have broken down while we were still in Utah and out in the middle of nowhere. It also could have already been dark when we had to pull over and we could have had to wait even longer to get picked up.
Oh, and I could have had to drive back in the car on the back of a flatbed.
TRS walked back up the highway to find a mile marker and eventually came riding back in the car of some Good Samaritans who had picked him up. The driver had a GPS so he found Sunset Point and said that was mile marker 268 and calculated we were at 264.
Tracy called AAA and more than once since she got disconnected. Eventually, she got through to them the situation and they told her they would call a tow truck and have DPS make a safety stop to check on us. They also told her the tow truck wouldn’t be able to transport all of us, though.
There was lots of confusion because she’s not familiar with the area, the traffic was drowning out the phone and TRS was telling her stuff too fast to absorb and relay. The latter is my impression, anyway.
I made an executive decision and called Steven and told him to get in my Mom’s car and start heading to Flagstaff. He gave me all sorts of grief about not knowing where to go, where we were, etc. but I just told him to take the 101 to I-17 and head north and to call for further instruction after that.
To make matters more interesting, Scott and I were almost out of battery power on our phones. Tracy was low and TRS had two bars. Great. Tracy did some charging while we waited for rescue and we had time to wait. Plenty of time. No DPS, no tow truck and no Steven though I expected him to take the longest to get there.
Finally, Tracy got a call from the tow truck driver asking where we were since we weren’t near mile marker 264. Oops. The dude with the GPS should have counted up instead of down in his calculation and none of us realized the mistake. 264 would have put us south of Sunset Point and we were north. Since it’s a divided highway at that point, the driver had to go past us and come back.
By this time, it was dark and we were sitting there by the light of the hazards. TRS called Steven to tell him were further away than originally thought. He was still a ways away, though. We had told him that we’d ask DPS the best spot for him to turn around but they hadn’t shown yet so we knew we had to call him again.
Oh, and there was rattling in the bushes by us. I asked TRS if it was a cicada and he said it was that or a cricket. Then, he changed it to an axe wielding rattlesnake just to mock me. I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Finally, we saw DPS backing up to us with the flashing lights on. He’d gone past us. Just as he pulled back to our location, the tow truck showed up with his flashing lights on. Now, if only we’d had Steven.
The cop put his spotlight on us and Tracy went over to talk to him. Basically, he scolded her for us being so far off the road and having the car turned in the wrong direction. He drove off right after that. Nice and thanks for caring. We’re not even sure if he was the car dispatched to check on us from AAA since they hadn’t called us back to verify our location at all.
The tow truck driver was much nicer and said, in effect, that that particular cop was not the nicest one around and that our car going the other way had made him suspect we rolled it. Whatever, he just wasn’t nice.
We explained to the driver what had happened and that we wanted the car towed to the dealership in Scottsdale since they last worked on it. Oh, yeah, Tracy had just had the car in the shop for repairs.
The driver actually had a flat bed. When we told him we had someone picking us up, he asked why. Tracy told him AAA said he couldn’t take all of us and he said he could. His options were two of us in the cab and two in the car on the flatbed or even all four of us in the car on the flatbed.
No frakking way was I riding in a car on the back of a flatbed on I-17 at night. Not going to happen. I was so glad I’d called Steven. Who at this point had just passed the nearest road south of us that the driver could have taken us to so he had to continue north then turn around. Karl had looked at the GPS on his Droid after plugging it in (that was dead while his Blackberry was still working) and told Steven to go up to 169 but the driver told him a closer spot to turn around. If possible, Steven was even more annoyed at the whole thing because we called him several times in all to modify the plan.<
In theory, the driver wasn’t supposed to leave us there but also wasn’t supposed to wait either. Fortunately, he offered to wait since Steven was close and Steven actually pulled up as he was finishing loading the car.
Now for some logistics. My car was at Tracy and Scott’s house. Scott’s car was at the airport since he’d flown up on Saturday and we’d driven up on Thursday. We had my Mom’s car to drive home in and Tracy’s car on a flatbed going to the dealership.
After some deliberation, we decided that Scott, Steven and I would head out in my Mom’s car to Tracy and Scott’s house where we’d lose Steven and pick up my car which I would then drive to the airport so Scott could pick up his car. TRS would go with Tracy with her car to the dealership. He was protection so she wouldn’t have to hang out there alone. Then, Scott and I would both drive our cars back to the dealership so Scott could get Tracy and I could get TRS and we could all finally go home.
Steven flat out refused to drive back to the Valley so I took the wheel. I was so thankful I’d had a nap while we were driving through Utah. TRS was thinking the same thing about my nap in the other vehicle. I hauled ass down the hill and had Steven call TRS as we were getting off the 101 near Tracy and Scott’s house. The others were just getting on the 101 from I-17 so I decided we’d go to the dealership so they wouldn’t have to wait for us to return from the airport.
Scott and I got to the dealership about five minutes before the flatbed. I’d managed to get a message out that we were waiting but my phone didn’t live long enough to get TRS’ reply that they were almost there.
It seemed to take forever for the car to get unloaded and the bill settled. We probably could have made the airport run and gotten there before the driver left but, oh well. We unloaded our suitcases but left the coolers and chairs in Tracy’s car since we had to condense down from a Subaru Forester to a Hyundai Sonata. Tracy and Scott are coming to Karl’s on Friday so we could easily wait for that stuff until then.
Finally, we were off to the airport with TRS driving. He’s not too familiar with the airport area, especially coming from south Scottsdale and with all the construction. I was glad he was driving, though, as I’d run out of steam. We found Scott’s car, shifted their luggage to it and headed back to Tempe to TRS’ house.
He made quick work of unloading his stuff then I headed home. George was very happy to see me. I didn’t do much more than put on my jammies and plug in my phone. It was now midnight. As I was about to fall asleep, I realized I should probably update Facebook to say I was home since I’d had a running commentary with people on there about our misadventure. Of course, my phone wouldn’t work so I had to get up and log in to my computer in the living room.
One quick update and I was back in bed and asleep in no time. Not for long, though. George apparently missed me and was affection starved. She woke me up three times before 6 AM and insisted on lying on top of me and purring while I petted her for about 10 minutes each time. My baby is spoiled, I admit it.
While it wasn’t the most fun way to end our trip, we consoled ourselves with the idea that it could have been worse. We could have broken down while we were still in Utah and out in the middle of nowhere. It also could have already been dark when we had to pull over and we could have had to wait even longer to get picked up.
Oh, and I could have had to drive back in the car on the back of a flatbed.
