A Smoking car... that's ... Bad... right? ;) Yeah, I figured that one out pretty quickly!
Jared Jarvis is my hero! :) 
So- here's a fun adventure! Let me tell you a story about a broken car, and how the Lord SERIOUSLY blessed me!! Last weekend, I was driving up to go on my camping trip. I was following behind my friend Jared and had my 2 dogs in the car. We were on the road between Payson and Heber, and missed the turn-off at SR 300 that we take towards Bear Canyon Lake. So Jared calls my cell phone and says we're going to turn around at the next shoulder in the road we come to. (Because up until then there hadn't been any place to pull over.) As I'm about to turn around, my Check Engine light comes on, and smoke starts pouring out from under my hood!!! Uhhhh... not good!! I have NO idea what's wrong with my car. (Other than it's old! It's a '97!)
But... considering this is a natural consequence of having an 11 yr old car... here's all the ways the Lord really blessed me this weekend:
Blessing #1- If we hadn't have missed the turn-off, I would be stranded in the middle of the forest, rather than on a major road where 2 other trucks stopped and offered to help. (Northern AZ people are sooo nice!!) AND- it the engine died RIGHT exactly where there was a shoulder to pull off on! Rather convenient!
Blessing #2- I had my friend Jared close-by to ride up on his white horse (or blue jeep) to the rescue! He helped me diagnose that the radiator had problems. There's a hose which goes from the radiator to the overflow container which contains antifreeze. The cap that goes on that container has a straw that sucks up the fluid. Well- that straw thing had melted or fallen off the cap, into the overflow container. (Problem #1) So it wasn't getting any fluid. (But we added water to get us by.)
Blessing #3- Because we missed the turn-off, we were close to Heber, and made it there by 4:50 pm- and got to an AutoZone before they closed at 5 pm to buy antifreeze. (and get the guy's professional opinion that that cap was a dealer's part.)
Blessing #4- I was really blessed to have awesome friends like Jared and Kristina who were VERY patient through-out this whole ordeal. And Jared took me, Jaz, & Toddy in the back of his car to the camp-out. (even though he was allergic to dogs). So we just left the car in the Heber parking lot- and went camping! (and had a FANTASTIC time!)
On Sat. when we went back to pick up the car... we took it to a shop who said that the radiator cap had melted (Problem #2). So I bought a new cap, and had a whole jug of anti-freeze, and we were on our way! That was all fine & dandy until we we were about 20 miles outside of Payson. Jared called me to say pull over- cuz my car was smoking. (AGAIN! A LOT!) We took off the radiator cap- and THIS one had melted!! (and it was brand-new!!) This time it was pretty obvious what the problem was! The actual radiator had a 3 inch horizontal crack in it. (Problem #3)
Blessing #5- At this time, Kristina mentions that she has duct tape in her bag! So we pull a Macgyver- and patch my little radiator for the time being. We allows my little car to limp along until we make it to Payson. I looked into how much towing the car back to Gilbert would be. (UGH!) I called my dad to get some advice...
Blessing #6- My dad directs me to go to an auto parts store- because he had used something when this had happened to him before that helped seal it up. So... at Checker Auto Parts- a guy shows us this silicone putty stuff to use as a band-aid to cover the crack in my radiator. It took 20 minutes to dry- so we went to eat dinner. For dessert, we had gilatto to celebrate my positive thinking/ self-fulfilling prophecy/ many future prayers answered/ problem-free trip back to Phoenix.
Blessing #7- AND I made it!! I coasted down the mountain hills- and had Jared following behind me on smoke-patrol. But no problems!! I, my 2 dogs, and my broken car made it all the way back home! YEAH!! And a broken car is much easier to deal with in Gilbert, than it is 1/2 way between Payson & Heber! So... that was my weekend adventure!
Jared Jarvis is my hero! :) So- here's a fun adventure! Let me tell you a story about a broken car, and how the Lord SERIOUSLY blessed me!! Last weekend, I was driving up to go on my camping trip. I was following behind my friend Jared and had my 2 dogs in the car. We were on the road between Payson and Heber, and missed the turn-off at SR 300 that we take towards Bear Canyon Lake. So Jared calls my cell phone and says we're going to turn around at the next shoulder in the road we come to. (Because up until then there hadn't been any place to pull over.) As I'm about to turn around, my Check Engine light comes on, and smoke starts pouring out from under my hood!!! Uhhhh... not good!! I have NO idea what's wrong with my car. (Other than it's old! It's a '97!)But... considering this is a natural consequence of having an 11 yr old car... here's all the ways the Lord really blessed me this weekend:
Blessing #1- If we hadn't have missed the turn-off, I would be stranded in the middle of the forest, rather than on a major road where 2 other trucks stopped and offered to help. (Northern AZ people are sooo nice!!) AND- it the engine died RIGHT exactly where there was a shoulder to pull off on! Rather convenient!
Blessing #2- I had my friend Jared close-by to ride up on his white horse (or blue jeep) to the rescue! He helped me diagnose that the radiator had problems. There's a hose which goes from the radiator to the overflow container which contains antifreeze. The cap that goes on that container has a straw that sucks up the fluid. Well- that straw thing had melted or fallen off the cap, into the overflow container. (Problem #1) So it wasn't getting any fluid. (But we added water to get us by.)
Blessing #3- Because we missed the turn-off, we were close to Heber, and made it there by 4:50 pm- and got to an AutoZone before they closed at 5 pm to buy antifreeze. (and get the guy's professional opinion that that cap was a dealer's part.)
Blessing #4- I was really blessed to have awesome friends like Jared and Kristina who were VERY patient through-out this whole ordeal. And Jared took me, Jaz, & Toddy in the back of his car to the camp-out. (even though he was allergic to dogs). So we just left the car in the Heber parking lot- and went camping! (and had a FANTASTIC time!)
On Sat. when we went back to pick up the car... we took it to a shop who said that the radiator cap had melted (Problem #2). So I bought a new cap, and had a whole jug of anti-freeze, and we were on our way! That was all fine & dandy until we we were about 20 miles outside of Payson. Jared called me to say pull over- cuz my car was smoking. (AGAIN! A LOT!) We took off the radiator cap- and THIS one had melted!! (and it was brand-new!!) This time it was pretty obvious what the problem was! The actual radiator had a 3 inch horizontal crack in it. (Problem #3)
Blessing #5- At this time, Kristina mentions that she has duct tape in her bag! So we pull a Macgyver- and patch my little radiator for the time being. We allows my little car to limp along until we make it to Payson. I looked into how much towing the car back to Gilbert would be. (UGH!) I called my dad to get some advice...
Blessing #6- My dad directs me to go to an auto parts store- because he had used something when this had happened to him before that helped seal it up. So... at Checker Auto Parts- a guy shows us this silicone putty stuff to use as a band-aid to cover the crack in my radiator. It took 20 minutes to dry- so we went to eat dinner. For dessert, we had gilatto to celebrate my positive thinking/ self-fulfilling prophecy/ many future prayers answered/ problem-free trip back to Phoenix.
Blessing #7- AND I made it!! I coasted down the mountain hills- and had Jared following behind me on smoke-patrol. But no problems!! I, my 2 dogs, and my broken car made it all the way back home! YEAH!! And a broken car is much easier to deal with in Gilbert, than it is 1/2 way between Payson & Heber! So... that was my weekend adventure!
3 comments:
Holy smokes, Ceej! So so glad that you were being watched over and that you had good friends with you to help you! :) Wouldn't want anything crazy to happen to the most awesome Ceej ever! :)
that sounds fun!! I think cars are meant to break down in Payson for some reason! The last time we were there our engine light came on too. Luckily for us though our car didn't smoke! Glad you had good friends w/ you!!
Wow... you had quit the adventure. It's good that you thought of it so positively!
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