undisclosed location unreached

so yesterday i set out to my undisclosed location around 3:30. i got to Dallas around 4 and sat there in rush-hour traffic for awhile. around 4:30 i was still sitting on 35, wasn't even to 30 yet, when my A/C stopped blowing cold air. i checked my gages, and my car temp was almost in the red zone. stupid Dallas drivers, who are the worst and most inconsiderate drivers i've ever encountered, would not let me over, even though i had my hazards on and was looking at them as if to say "please, i don't want my car to incinerate right in front of you and stop down traffic, you moron". this went on until i remembered that i drive an SUV and can pretty much have my way with the little beemers i was encountering. now, before y'all think i wasn't taking care of my car, let me just state that i had my oil changed on Tuesday, and they checked everything. they told me all my fluid levels were fine, specifically mentioning my radiator fluid. i also had the thing inspected, and it checked out fine...

finally, i exited to downtown and had to stop in right hand lane at a stoplight. this didn't make a lot of folks happy, but i had to turn off my vehicle. after a couple of minutes, i turned and ended up at the parking garage for Reunion Arena. i pulled over onto a street that would only be used by others going to the same garage and panicked a bit. what if there's a Mavs game at Reunion tonight? SarahK, they haven't played there in years, so i think you're ok. So now it was close to 5, and i was in Dallas, and i really don't know Dallas that well; i go there only for sports and sometimes restaurants, and i otherwise try to avoid it. so i had no idea where i was or what to do, so i called my dad, of course. thank goodness i had my laptop, or i would have been bored out of my mind.

so my car cooled down and i decided to get at least to a gas station where i could wait for Spidade, who was on his way but had to take someone home and then stop for antifreeze just in case, though i knew i hadn't been leaking that (i do know enough to immediately look at the ground behind me if something's up). i'd gone maybe 100 yards when my car was in the danger zone again. so i exited immediately and parked on a side street. after seeing all the gang vandalism on the street signs and such, i decided that this was perhaps not the best place to be stopped. Spidade was sitting in traffic on 30, too, so after my car cooled down a little again, i moved down the block and found a busy street, turned onto it and then onto a side street, keeping close to the busy one.

so it was supposed to storm, and the clouds were looming ominously. wow, i just switched into creative writing mode, sorry about that... anyway, Spidade got to Dallas, and i had no idea where i was, except that i was south of downtown off Beckley Avenue. thankfully, i had a Dallas Mapsco from my days of working in North Dallas (*shuddering*). so i found out where he was (page 55), and i was on page 44. but it took me awhile to figure out how to get him from where he was to where i was; he had not heard of Beckley Avenue... after about 10 minutes of me chasing him through the Mapsco, i told him he needed to stop moving. after that, i had an epiphany -- he just needs to get from page 55 to page 44, right? so i led him from 55 to 45 to 44, then i realized i was really at the bottom of 54, so he had to go north on page 44 quite a ways, after he had gone south on 55 then west on 45. finally, he was about two blocks away, and he told me he was at a red light. that didn't show on my map, so i penciled it in for future reference. the next light was yellow, so Spidade told me to mark a "?" mark, then it turned red, so i changed it to an "X". see, folks, i come by my obscene silliness honestly.

so Spidade felt around some under the hood and decided it was a bad thermostat. now, neither one of us happened to have tools in our vehicles. bah. Spidade had a socket wrench, just no sockets to go with it. so i called a friend, who got online and found a parts store near us, and we set out on a mission to replace the thermostat. now, i'm not a chick who's afraid to get her hands dirty, provided i'm doing some kind of activity that makes me feel tough, right? [UPDATE: when i showered earlier, i noticed that i have 2 TOTALLY ROCKIN' bruises on my right leg, so that makes me even tougher. woohoo!!] so we went and bought a thermostat (we gave them all the info about engine size, etc., and they sold us the only one they had, which, when we got back to the car, should have been the right one for the volume of engine, right? wrong.), a socket that would most definitely fit the bolts, an O-ring.

we arrived back at the vehicle, and the socket did not fit the bolts, because for some reason, Ford -- an American? company -- used metric bolts. how unpatriotic!! so we went back and bought the two metric sockets that we could need. we got back to the vehicle, which was not in the best part of town, and were happy that i still had tires. the sockets fit, only there was all this other stuff in the way. so we took off the air filter hose, some other valve, moved the gas pedal thingy, took off the engine cover. somewhere along the way, one of the things that had to come off had yet a different size of bolt. so here we were, going back to Auto Zone again, and the sky was looking even worse, and it was getting darker outside.

as we were inside the store buying another socket (and letting me pee, because wow, it was 8-something by now, and i'd had a bottle of water and a Coke while sitting in Dallas traffic at 3:30) and a flash-light (due to the approaching nightfall), we heard quite a clatter on the roof. it was now pouring rain and becoming officially dark. bah.

we got back to my car and finally, after much ado and many sockets dropped far inside the engine (one of which was never found), we got the thermostat cover off. now, Spidade might tell you that i did little more than hold the flashlight, but that's simply not true. i have tiny hands, and my tiny hands were all that would fit in some small spaces, so i was a very integral part of the mission (and not just because it was i who had an overheated car). i got grease and dirt all over my sweater and new jeans, so i must have done something important. btw, Spidade said i wasn't the best of flashlight holders, but my goodness! i was trying to protect us with my tear-gas from all the questionable creatures that were driving by, plus i was being eaten alive by mosquitos, what did he expect? after that, i was attentive to the point of annoyance with the flashlight. did i mention that i developed a strong migraine around 8 or so? yeah, good times.

so we got the thermostat pulled out, and our replacement thermostat was the wrong size. that's ok, you can drive a car temporarily with no thermostat, because it just means your car will be cooled all the time, and not just when it's needed. i learned quite a bit last night. however, we had no gasket sealer, Auto Zone was closed, and when i turned the car back on, the thermostat was leaking slightly. we tightened all the bolts, but i still had a small leak, which would have been fine for a while but not on a 15 to 20 hour road trip, and even if it would have been fine for that long, i didn't want to get stranded in the back woods of Tennessee or wherever, so Spidade followed me to the mechanic's and took me home.

i got home around 11:30, and the undisclosed location is going to have to wait. my car has a new thermostat, and i'm only out $72, plus the $20 i spent at Auto Zone. it could have been worse.

Comments

[krakatoa]

Stop it! You work on your own vehicle?? Excellent!!

So is your Undisclosed Location anywhere near Virginia?

[sarahk]

well, i do what i can. i do know what an alternator looks like and where to find the fuse box, too!

actually, the undisclosed location isn't that far from Virgina; unfortunately, i won't be going for a few weeks now. wah.

[krakatoa]

A couple weeks eh? We may pass each other going in opposite directions. ;P

I haven't decided yet whether to take a northerly or southerly route west. Kindof depends on the employment situation and which direction puts me in touch with the most interesting people. I'm leaning towards driving by way of Texas though. It's definitely a prettier and less monotonous drive than thru the midwest.

Well if you decide to drive thru Virginia at all, hit me up for the sights to see. The Blue Ridge mountains are amazing.

[sarahk]

LOL, yeah, we may pass each other, krakatoa. i don't remember ever driving through the midwest, and as long as you're not driving Fort Worth to Amarillo (bleck), the drive through the south is quite pretty.

the employment situation -- the job is taking you to San Francisco for sure? or that's a prospect? just curious.

and thanks, if i go through Virginia, i'll check with you on the sights!

[krakatoa]

If I get the job I applied for, it will be in San Fran.

I haven't really looked in any other places. Just lost my last job a couple weeks ago, and haven't felt really gung-ho on getting back into corporate life, but a friend in San Fran offered to pull some strings for me at Nextel, and I figured what the heck, I'd give it a shot.

I visited SanFran earlier this year, and while I'm no match for the prevailing politcs out there, there was a lot there to keep my attention for a while.

I would prefer to work in Texas or Florida. Virginia is truly home, where I grew up and all, but not many telecom jobs there.

Then again, if I don't get the job in San Fran, I may just take the summer off and travel.

Haven't had a good leisurely road trip in a long time.

[sarahk]

well, good luck with the job (and the hippies & commies, if you end up in SF). though taking the summer off to travel sounds wonderful; i'm not working right now, and as soon as i get all packed up to move to wherever, i'm hoping to work temp some and then take even more time off for the same thing.

last summer i drove to utah and had a blast, just me, my SUV and my music for 21 hours.

[krakatoa]

Thanks!

I figure if I end up in Cali, I'll make the most of the situation and irritate all the hippies & commies I can.

You might catch me on the news getting dragged behind a hybrid car! :p

So you are actually moving, not just taking a trip? That sounds exciting.

[sarahk]

LOL, good, we need as many irritants out there as possible, though i don't envy you the task...

i was taking a trip to the undisclosed location, but i'm also moving wherever the job hunt takes me, hopefully in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. i'm enormously excited about it!

[krakatoa]

In all my travels around the country, I have yet to see the Grand Canyon. I'm thinking that'll be something to aim for this summer, along with the Painted Desert, time permitting.

I applaud the motivation to move where the work is. One of my pet peeves is chronically unemployed people complaining there are no jobs available, or no jobs they want in the area they want to live. I've spent the last 5 years committed to going where work takes me, and it's paid off pretty well. Sacrificing geographic preferences for the short term seems a small price to pay for putting bread on the table, much less for achieving early retirement.

[sarahk]

the Grand Canyon is amazing, the most beautiful sight i've ever seen; the Painted Desert is awesome too. if you get a choice, visit the north rim of the Canyon, i hear only about 10% of the visitors to the Canyon go there. it's breathtaking.

i'm actually moving west to be near the Canyon, that was the whole motivation. hopefully the work will take me super close.