If you had been driving north on I-77 just south of New Philadelphia, Ohio, about midafternoon Sunday, you might have wondered, "Who's that crazy lady standing on the shoulder doing a Sudoku puzzle?"
That would be me.
I was doing the puzzle because we happened to have the Sunday paper with us and what else was there to do while waiting for the tow truck?
Yes, I managed to drive yet another car right straight into the ground. For a while there it looked like I was going to drive it into a ditch or off the road--that van acts like a sail in high winds, and the canoe on top wasn't helping any. We were on our way to our annual family reunion and making really good time despite the unfortunate incident with the construction barrel in the middle of the road (yipes!) and the frequent corrections when a gust of wind would push us toward oblivion (hold on!).
But it wasn't the wind that blew us off the road. It was the head gasket, which blew out and let coolant into the engine and released billows of smoke carrying the sweet stench of engine death.
Here's the irony: my husband had just thoroughly cleaned that van out to make it more amenable to canoe trips. It'll be the cleanest car in the junkyard, assuming that we can find a junkyard that wants it.
Yes, it would be possible to replace the engine, but that van has almost 300,000 miles on it (all ours!) and lots of rust, and the transmission shows signs of age as well. We're happy it kept going as long as it did and grateful for all the wonderful places it took us, but it's time to give it a rest.
We'll have some logistical issues to resolve: how to get the van from Dover to its final rusting place, how to get the canoe back home on the car we're borrowing from our daughter and son-in-law, how to manage replacing the van when we just replaced our decrepit Volvo. It's a puzzle much more complex than the Sunday sudoku, but I think we're up to the challenge. As long as I don't have to spend any more hours stranded on the side of the interstate.
2 comments:
And of course it has already occurred to several people to note that our fatal error was cleaning the van, because maybe all that gunk was the only thing keeping it going.
My husband reminded me that twice we have installed new radios in vehicles that proceeded to die almost immediately afterward. There's a lesson in there somewhere but I'm not sure what it is.
My sympathies. I received the final "they don't make the part any more, and we can't find a used one that isn't equally rusted out" message on my 21-year-old/180,000 mile car. Fortunately I got word of a raise the same week, so with a bit of hassle along the way, all will work out. And it sounds like the local NPR station's car donation subcontractor is willing to take the car (if they can't find the part either, it still has an engine, transmission, and other assorted pieces in pretty good shape).
They're also getting a substantial quantity of leaf mulch distributed among assorted cracks and crevices, since I *hadn't* recently cleaned the car, and have been known to throw a tarp in the back and pitchfork away. I'm already trying to figure out a more complete protection system for the (as-yet-unchosen) new(er) car; there are some advantages to a beater, including being able to transport gardening materials without concern.
At least late July/August is a better time than, say, Sept/Oct for college professors to deal with such matters.
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