Today was better

Yesterday was horrible. But at least I have a story to tell...

I have a 12 mile trek to work. About half way there, while sitting at a stop light, I noticed steam curling up from under the hood of my vehicle. There wasn't a lot, but I immediately looked at the temp gauge...smack dab in the middle of NORMAL. Phew. I didn't see any more steam so I wrote it off to the frigid temp and the wind swirling the exhaust from the car in front of me. I continued to watch the temp gauge as I drove further away from home. It didn't budge. About 4 miles from my office, I stopped at another light. This time I saw a lot of steam. There was no denying it...something was going horribly wrong. I fought my way across 2 lanes of traffic and pulled over. By the time I put it in Park, I could smell the last thing I wanted to smell at that moment...coolant. I believe my exact words were, "Aw, crap." I opened the hood and peered inside while on the cell phone leaving a message for Hubby. Then I saw it...a puddle of green liquid pooled on one of the crossbars under the engine. I looked in the coolant reservoir and there was only about 1" remaining. I muttered to myself, "Okay, that's good. There's still some coolant left and I didn't overheat the engine. Score one for me."

Unfortunately, I have a bit of experience with this type of problem. I've had to replace head gaskets in two vehicles that I've owned, a 1990 Chevy Cavalier (absolutely the best car I ever owned...heavy as a mack truck and could drive through any snow storm without even a shudder) and the very vehicle that I was currently cursing. I looked again at the puddle and traced the leak back to the side of the engine block. Damn. I couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, but I was definitely getting a funny feeling in my gut. Either the head gasket had failed me again, or I had inhaled too much coolant steam.

Since it was 10 degrees, and I had a gallon of coolant in the van (always be prepared!!), I decided to take my chances. I called Hubby and left another voicemail that I was going to continue on to work. I think I watched the temp gauge more than the road (considerably dangerous since I was driving through center city). But I made it to work with the temp gauge just a nudge higher than the norm. Score two for me.

Towards the end of the day, Hubby arrived and arranged for the auto club to tow the bastard to our favorite garage. The owner loves us. We only buy used cars and we drive them until they have over 200,000 miles. At times I think we keep the mechanic in business. The tow truck arrived, put the van on the roll back and off he went...at about 3:45pm. I finished my work day and Hubby and I drove back to our quaint little hamlet and picked up Sunfish from pre-school. At this point, it was about 5:30pm.

We decided to drive past our favorite garage on our way back to our house. Now here's where the law of averages decided to kick our ass. The beast wasn't there. We drove past two other local garages to see if the tow truck driver has left it at the wrong place of business, but didn't see our vehicle anywhere. We stopped at the garage and Hubby asked if the van was out for a test drive...the owner replied, "I haven't seen it yet." Hubby returned to the car to break the bad news. Remember, I live 12 miles from my work. It was now close to 2 hours from the time the tow truck left with my van.

Now here's where the conversation turned amusing (I can say that now, at the time it was anything but funny):
"Okay," I said. "What's the name of the towing company?"
"I don't know," said Hubby. "Shorty something."
"Well where's the paperwork?" I asked.
"He didn't give me anything. Come to think of it, he didn't ask me for my Triple A card."

At this point my mind was racing. I had it all figured out. Some jerk-off intercepted the scanner dispatch and with his fake Triple A shirt, STOLE MY VAN!!! I was convinced.

We got home, and Hubby jumped on the phone to call Triple A and report the problem. Of course, he immediately got the hold muzak. After about 3-4 minutes I remembered that the tow truck driver called me on my cell phone when he got to my office. I whipped out the cell phone, looked up my recent calls and there was the number. Gotta love Caller ID!

I called the number and could barely contain myself when the driver answered, "Hi Honey!"
"No, this is NOT your honey. This is [weenus] and you picked up my van today in the city." While I'm sure that my voice was short of shrill, I can only imagine what I sounded like.
"Uhhh, yea" was the answer from the jerk-off.
"WHERE DID YOU PUT MY VAN? Cuz it certainly isn't where you were told to take it!"
"Um, I'm just now dropping it off. The traffic was really bad."

Now I could have really busted this idiots balls. I don't care how bad the traffic is...it doesn't take 2 hours to drive 12 miles. Maybe in Philadelphia, or Atlanta, but not around here. I could have ripped him to shreds, but I was just thrilled that my van was accounted for (Hubby quickly drove to the garage and confirmed the arrival). My only consolation is the gulp that the jerk-off had to swallow. Now I just chuckle when I think of him anticipating a sweet chat with his "honey" only to end up with a very pissed off soccer mom.

So why is today better?
Well, I was braced for the worst case scenario (blown head gasket) but ended up with just a leaky hose. Still a $113 jolt to my checking account, but at least not a $1500 jolt.

Also, I taught a great class today. The one student that attended (love the 1:1 ratio) was interested, participated and by the end of class, grateful for what she learned.

And finally, we've got significant snowfall. It's been snowing on and off all day. We have about 3-4" on the ground and I'M A KID IN A CANDY STORE!! I know it's boring when I talk about the weather, but I cannot help myself...I'm a snow freak and now I'm happy as a clam. Best of all, the temp is not supposed to rise so the snow will stick around for a while. AND...more snow over the weekend. I'm absolutely giddy. Go ahead... call me crazy.