Me, Cars, Computers

Rule 1 of my relationship with cars and computers is: "Whatever I did, it was the wrong thing."

This last weekend was full of church meetings up at Sheridan, an hour and a half away if Paul is driving, and we ended up with two cars up there on Sunday evening (long story) and Paul couldn't find anyone else to drive one home so the lot fell on me.

Now I don't like driving at the best of times, but at night, on curvy roads, in the rain, is The Absolute Worst. And my eyes are awful at night and I slam on the brakes because a car is turning out in front of me and it turns out to actually be the reflectors at the end of someone's driveway, etc. etc. whine whine.

So I said I'd rather drive the Honda, (old, stick shift, iffy prognosis) than the Kia (first car of ours that has any risk of theft, but full of children in the back seat).

So we headed home in the dark, rain, etc, and I insisted that Paul go ahead of me so I could putz along as slow as I wanted without feeling guilty for making him putz along also.

He warned me the alternator in the Honda is dying.

I got to Corvallis and noticed the interior lights were dimming and the windshield wipers were going slower and slower and the white lines were getting more faded.

Down Peoria Road I was leaning forward and clutching the steering wheel like an old grandma in a pickup truck. I could still see signs but the white lines were almost disappearing.

Then right before Fayetteville Drive I stepped on the brakes and the engine died completely. Panic. I quickly put it in neutral and turned the key. Nothing. I found a spot to ease off the road, and no one was coming, thank you Jesus.

I called Paul, who had just arrived at home. He came and rescued me, but first we pushed the Honda further off the road, with him inside steering and me at the front (long story and less misogynist than it sounds) through deep wet leaves, which I found is much easier than pushing a car out of snow, which I have also done in church shoes. And then he drove me home.

As I was relating what happened, he wanted to know what I did when it stalled. " Did you put it in gear and pop the clutch, or did you turn the key?"

I knew instantly that as always, whatever I had done was the wrong thing. But at that very instant my cell phone rang! And when I was done talking on it I artfully turned the conversation to other things.

Don't worry, Paul would have been nice about it, but I just don't like to discuss it.

That is also why I got Tom to put those cool little boxes in the sidebar to link to Amazon, as Hans suggested, because if I would have tried, believe me, everything I would have done would have been the wrong thing.

Quote of the Day:
"I like Christian books where the main thing isn't like how to be a Christian and stuff."
--Jenny