A few days ago, I picked up Haley from a friend's house and noticed my radio seriously struggling more than usual to get going. Hmm...I briefly thought, Oh well, I guess I'll just be stuck listening to CDs...no biggie. As I pulled out of the driveway, a strange dashboard light caught my eye...it was orange and in the shape of the battery. Ah, that's what's wrong with the radio...the battery is struggling. About that time, I noticed my RPM gauge flopping around, even when I pressed the accelerator. It would either shoot up or lay dead at 0. Now, I'm not ashamed to admit that I know very little about cars. "Very little" = I know how to fill it with gas and windshield wiper fluid and I'm aware that it needs new oil on occasion. Outside of that, I'm clueless, but here...a floppy RPM gauge...nah, that's not right.
About this time we stopped at a red light and two lanes over is a car sitting on top of a wrecker. Having never seen this new sight, Haley starts asking questions. I explained to her that the car on top is broken and won't drive on it's own, so the big truck it taking it to the car shop to get fixed...I failed to see the irony coming my way.
I called Toby who was just beginning a huge lunch with a bunch of guys from work and explained the situation. From my very technical description, he concluded that the problem was likely with the battery or the alternator. He asked if I had planned to make any stops on the way home...of course I had, we've been out of printer ink for over a week and it's killing me! "Go straight home! If you turn the car off, it probably won't start again." Boo. As badly as I wanted that printer ink, I wanted less to be stranded in the Staples parking lot! So off I went, singing and chatting with Haley. It's about a 40 minute drive from my friend's house to home and for the next few minutes, I didn't think anything of my floppy gauges or strange light again...until I left all civilization and felt my car slip into a coast mode. Forcing myself to fight off a huge wave of panic, I pretended that didn't happen...flop goes the speedometer. Oh dear...we have a problem. The road began to take a slight, and I do mean slight slope uphill, but it was just enough to realize I was about to be in huge trouble. I started looking around the road for a place to pull off as I wondered how my brakes might function. Just as I felt the panic start to rise, an office building (literally in the middle of nowhere) appeared on my left. My car was getting slower and slower and pushing the accelerator did no good. I could see the traffic getting tighter in on my bumper behind me. When I had nearly run out of steam, I made a left turn and coasted downhill into the parking lot. Whoa...I'm ok, I'm ok. Haley is oblivious to the near crisis.
My car was still running with the cool air blowing as I called Toby to report our status. I fought the urge to panic and calmly explained our situation, but I felt his panic rising as I described where I was. While we were on the phone, Toby had me turn the car off to see if it would crank again...um, didn't you already tell me not to do that? I chose not to argue but sure enough, it was dead...not even the slightest effort to run, and now I'd lost my a/c in the squelching 93 degree heat...nice.
I got off the phone with Toby and calmly called the Toyota dealership who gave me the number to a wrecker service they use. Surprised by my calm nature over the situation, I made the necessary phone calls and within minutes we had a tow truck heading our way. There were two trucks parked at this office building where I happened to land, but all the lights inside seemed to be out, even though it was mid day. A closer look at the front door revealed an 8x11 sign that read "Closed Wednesday afternoons." Great! As the temperature in my car was quickly rising, I desperately tried the front door in hopes that this Wednesday would be the exception. It was locked. Just as I was getting myself pumped up to sweat out the next 45 minutes waiting for our tow truck, I saw the front door open out of the corner of my eye. As I walked back to the door, an older gentleman held out his hand and said, "Want some crackers and mayonnaise?" I was completely taken off guard, but he was indeed having a snack of saltine crackers with mayonnaise slathered on top...I'd never heard of such. Despite his odd snack choice, his demeanor was warm and friendly and I was quickly put at ease. I declined his "generous" offer and explained why we were camping out in his parking lot. He let us come in to sit in the lobby, with the much appreciated a/c, and quickly offered me some water and gave Haley a chocolate popsicle. By this time, Haley is asking all kinds of questions about where we are and why we're here, but in the end she didn't care because she had ice cream. God is so good.
Our tow truck arrived and he was a crazy nice guy, too. Turns out he has four kids of his own and the youngest is 3, just a bit older than Haley. We loaded up the car seat in the backseat of the tow truck and Haley had a blast watching him load our car on top of his big truck. The driver offered Haley his honey bun from his lunch box. I was really touched by his sacrifice and Haley was super excited about some sugar. All in all the honey bun made for a much more pleasant, and quiet, ride to the dealership.
Haley in the back seat of the tow truck watching the exciting action out the back window. All through this process I'm thinking in my mind about our car. It's 13 years old and Toby and I have talked about getting a newer car next spring. So I'm trying to run numbers in my head, How much is it worth and how much are we willing to put into this car if we know we want to get rid of it in 9 months or so anyway? Should we just count our losses now and get a newer car now? But we don't have the cash now for a newer car, we'd have to finance it...*wave of nausea* Oh sweet Jesus, I don't need this on my plate at 37 weeks pregnant!
We made it to the dealership and bid our friendly tow truck driver goodbye. The service guy that checked us in said the problem sounds like the alternator. "Ok, so about how much would a new alternator be?" He gave me a figure that was far less than I had imagined in my head...remember, I know zero about car mechanics. At the end of the day, we left the car there for them to repair and Toby picked us up and we headed home. As an important side note...I did learn that the alternator is needed to help get the battery going. Our battery was fine. Don't ask me any more...that's all I know.
While I had hoped to spend the entire afternoon resting my 37 week self on the sofa, it didn't turn out that way. The afternoon's events, while totally unforeseen by me, were totally in the control of my Jesus! First and foremost, I didn't panic...a huge blessing given my history with previous minor car hiccups and my exaggerated hormonal state. Second, we were able to get off the road safely without any problems or causing delays or collisions to any surrounding vehicles. Third, God put us somewhere with a kind man willing to help us and offer a/c, water and chocolate...far more than was asked or expected. Also, our tow truck driver was not the creepy kind that you see in movies...just a nice guy. Haley was such a trooper and even though she was exhausted, she thought we were on some great adventure! The repairs were far less than the horrid number I had cooked up in my head and now my 4Runner is back on it's feet and running great. And lastly, since Toby left work a little early to rescue us, Haley and I got to spend some extra time with him that afternoon. So all in all, thank you Jesus for showing Yourself mighty and in control of an unexpected and undesirable turn of events! You see me all through the day and care about even the smallest of details!
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