expect the unexpected...

[tollermom]

Well.

That was... interesting.

I left home this morning, planning to go to the office for a couple of hours and then meet my friend Steve at the new house, to see which of my various and sundry projects he was interested in tackling. (As it turns out, pretty much all of them, including the fencing, which just rocks!) I was going to be in Frankton for a couple of hours, then swinging back past the old house long enough to shower and change before meeting poltr1 for an early dinner since he was in town (and by "town" I mean Indianapolis) for a meeting this afternoon.

I made it to work a few minutes early (miraculous for me on a Saturday), which seemed a good start. Spent longer there than expected and was running late, so I called Steve and let him know I'd be a few minutes late meeting him at the house.

Spent a couple of hours talking about what all I want done so that he can work up some numbers for me, and met the lovely older lady who lives nextdoor, then realized it was after three and I was going to have to rush to make it back to Indy. Hopped in the Trooper and headed south out of Frankton and realized the air conditioning wasn't working. No, wait... the fan's not blowing at all. And, hmmm... the brake and alternator lights are on, which is what happened when the serpentine belt broke, which was just a couple of months ago.

Oh dear. That's not good.

So... back to Frankton, which was closer but where I was pretty much guaranteed to not be able to get the truck worked on 'til Monday, if then? Or forge ahead to Anderson, 10 or so miles down the road, in the hopes that I could find someone who could fix it?

Decided to push on to Anderson, so I put the windows down, turned off everything that would draw electricity, thanked deity for the new heavy-duty battery, and started obsessively watching the temperature gauge. It stayed steady, and I headed for the repair place that I'd seen on the outskirts of town.

Hmmm... they close on Saturdays at noon. Okay... head towards town on the highway, with no idea what's there but hoping that I can at least find someone with a clue to give me directions. Spot another little repair shop... closed on Saturday afternoons.

This is not looking good. Call Sally's cell, to let her know that I may need rescuing, and keep looking for a good stopping spot. Ooh! Look! It's an O'Reilly's! I like O'Reilly's... they generally have a clue (I think everybody I've ever met working in an O'Reilly's was a mechanic of some sort). Pulled into the parking lot, left the truck running, and went in to see if they could recommend somewhere for me to take the truck.

First two places they thought of were the two I'd already passed. Then one of the customers said "Let me take a look, so we know what we're dealing with." So he came out, and looked under the hood, and then crawled under the truck, and made disparaging noises about the amount of power steering fluid all over the place (I was pretty sure the dying power steering pump was what had melted the belt, which was most definitely missing). Then his buddy comes over and he takes a look, and they make more grumbly mechanicy noises, and I ask "So... what's my best option?"

Herb (turns out that's his name) said "Well, I've gotta put brakes on his car first, but I could fix it after that... that'll give it time to cool down some." I contemplate the fact that a random stranger has just volunteered to run off with my car. I consider the fact that I'm undoubtedly not going to find anybody else willing to work on it on a Saturday afternoon/evening in Anderson. Hmmm. Go back inside and ask the O'Reilly's guys... "So... am I okay to send my car off w/ this guy?" They say yes... that they'd happily let him work on their cars. So Herb gets my key, and I call poltr1 to let him know there's been a sliiiiiight change in plans.

So there I am, stranded at the O'Reilly's in Anderson. I ask Dawan (the shift manager) if I could hang out there, and he said "No problem... there's chairs back there (pointing towards the office)... just make yourself comfortable." They're open 'til 9 p.m., and it gets boring in there when it's not busy, so they have a Wii. I had my laptop, so I settled in to catch up on some reading and a few games of Sudoku, and heckled while they played baseball on the Wii in between customers. poltr1 decided to drive up and keep me company for awhile, so after a bit of getting lost and backtracking (due to getting directions from me, who knows next to nothing about Anderson!), we got him vectored in to the O'Reilly's, and he and I headed out to grab some dinner. Along the way, Herb called and said the part he needed wasn't available anywhere in Anderson but there was one in Pendleton and did I want him to get it. I said yes, and that I'd be back at the O'Reilly's in a bit.

Jim and I had a lovely chat over omelettes and pancakes (yay for breakfast food!) and then he took me by the ATM for cash for the friendly mechanic and by the Walgreen's for reading material, before dropping me back at the O'Reilly's and heading back to Dayton. (Thanks again, Jim! I really appreciate you going so far out of your way to come hang out for awhile! :-) )

Herb called again... he was back with the part but probably wouldn't be done by 9. Maybe 9:30ish. That's okay... there's a Taco Bell next door to the O'Reilly's, so when the O'Reilly's guys got ready to go home, I migrated over to Taco Bell. Things took a bit longer than expected, but the friendly Taco Bell ladies let me hang out indoors even after they closed at 10 (the drivethru was still open... just not the restaurant part).

Another call from Herb... a minor snag has arisen, involving a need for one last part that he now can't get 'til tomorrow. Oops. At this point, he gained Knight In Shining Armor status by volunteering to come get me and take me home (30 minutes away). So I hung out at the Taco Bell for a bit longer (and traded book suggestions with one of the girls who was working in there), then Herb picked me up, drove me home, and dropped me off after making arrangements to finish the car tomorrow.

So now Sally and I are going up to the house after church tomorrow (she'd already planned to ride up with me to see it... the only real change is that we'll be going in her car), and then we'll stop in Anderson on the way home and retrieve the Trooper from Herb.

Big plus for the day: I have a new mechanic. Seems like a great guy, comes well recommended, and has certainly bent over backwards to help me out of a jam today. He'll be convenient from the new house, and having a good mechanic who's closer than Indy is a Very Good Thing (plus, his regular biz is a Mobile Mechanic gig, so if I get stranded at the house in Frankton, he can bring his truck full o' tools to the house!).

Other plusses: Having a chance to hang out w/ Jim, after having just met in passing a couple of OVFFs ago. Not being stranded on the side of the road, or having the Trooper out of service for days. Finding the handy O'Reilly's. Meeting another friendly neighbor. Discovering that Anderson (which has some kinda scary areas since the Delco plant closed and a bunch of people moved out) really isn't all bad, and has some super-nice people if I just open my eyes and look. Having time to just sit and read or work sudoku puzzles for awhile.

The only real downside? I lost four or five hours that I should have been packing.

You know, given the way my day could have gone once all the dash lights came on... I think I can live with that! :-)