Introduce yourself here! Or say farewell!

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Kinokokao]

LET ME TELL YOU OF MY ADVENTURE

So, Saturday I work a double (10am to 10pm) and then immediately jump in the car and head out on the highway to my family reunion. I dropped my fiancé off at the hotel in town and then drove out to the lake (and went the wrong way, fuck me!) Anyway, I roll up to the reunion campground at like 2am. I'd texted my cousins that I was on the way, so they stayed up to say hello and goodnight. Which was incredibly sweet of them! So I tuck my dear, sweet, (drunk) cousins into their bunks and head up to the main cabin where my father is also waiting to see me safe and cozy. I say goodnight to him as well, drive back into town, CRASH asleep at about 3am. Zzzzzz.

Get up, shower, dress, head to the reunion and start greeting and hugging relatives. Everyone's congratulating me on the impending nuptials, welcoming my fiancé to the family, etc. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, completely worth the drive and all that. So happy to see my family <3

My dad, who drove up with my brother and his girlfriend, offers to drive me home again. I gladly accept because I'm bone-tired and likely to swerve off the road. Me, dad, fiancé all pile into my car and head out on the highway.

We're barely 30 minutes into the 3 hour drive when I'm already nodding off to sleep. I hear my dad say, "Uh oh."

The car's display says, "No Battery Charge" Hmm... no power steering, that's not a good sign! We need gas anyway, so my dad pulls over in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. He takes a peak under the car: we're missing a serpentine belt. I have no idea what that means, but apparently it results in the battery not charging, the engine not receiving coolant, and all kinds of other shit not working. We need to find an auto part store or wal-mart or something that sells the belt we need.

We get back on the highway with the intent of travelling further north to Pauls Valley, which is the next town with a population greater than 10 cows.

Suddenly, the engine overheats. The car is like STOP ENGINE! STOP! but we're in the middle of one-lane construction madness with nowhere to pull over. My dad throws it in neutral in a desperate attempt to keep the car from exploding. We inch our way off the highway at the nearest exit:





I am deeply concerned. Steam is POURING out from under the hood of the car when we stop.



We call my brother and request he double-back to help us. We need him to bring a serpentine belt and lots of water for the engine. While we're waiting, my dad discovers that some other crucial piece is missing, and he needs both that piece and the tools to fix it. My brother arrives with the belt, but it's a no-go.

We get back in the car and limp into Pauls Valley. Fortunately, we enter town directly in front of an auto parts store, 5 minutes until they close. My dad rushes in to buy the parts we need, and the boys set about the difficult task of repairing the car.

So, once more, we get back in the car and manage to get a few more miles down the highway before the engine overheats. We pull over and the radiator cap has come loose. My dad replaces it, adds water, and we're back on the highway.

Until the car overheats a few miles further.

This time we exit at an Indian Smoke Shop/Casino. Whenever my dad puts more water in the car it simply pukes it right back up again. I have no idea what's wrong with the car. I'm super grateful my dad is there, because he seems to be in control of the situation.

Once more, we go a few miles before the engine overheats.

We pullover:



And we go a bit further.

We've been on the road for 3.5 hours, and gone a distance of maybe 40 miles.

Finally, my dad pulls over for the last time. The sun is sinking low on the horizon. We admit defeat. The car simply will not take the water we give it.



It is time to call a tow truck.

Not pictured: me sitting on the side of the highway, waiting an hour for the tow truck.

Not pictured: abandoning my car at my aunt's house.

Not pictured: arriving home after 7.5 hours.

In conclusion: My car is an hour away at my aunt's house in OKC, I have no idea what's wrong with it, but my family is awesome and despite all the trouble I'd do it again just to see them.

[negzee]

Glad you're back safe, Kino, and hope that your car makes it.

[Centurion_Beta]

Wow, that's one heck of an adventure. Like when you're stuck in the Labyrinth without a warp wire...

Seriously though, I'm glad you all got back safe. That must have been extremely stressful for all of you.

[noodles]

i was expecting a severed minotaur head or something by the end of that >:/

[Maxine MagicFox]

<_< $10 says you blew a gasket head. .... and holy shit I know enough about cars and repairs to be able to say something like that. ....

My prediction, which could very well be wrong, is that you lost the belt, and that's where you should have NOT driven the car - got a taxi or something and got the part to come back and fix the car.

But, you drove it. The car over heated. Damage done - you busted the gasket head.

Long of it, sweety: you're prolly going to need a new engine.


... and now I'm going to go kill myself and my sanity. x_x my dad and his constant working of cars has corrupted me. *cough* But, this is the golden rule my dad makes us kids go by with our car.

"THE MOMENT you suspect, or see, that your car's temperature gauge has risen by even A LITTLE, you PULL THE FUCK OVER AND YOU DO NOT DRIVE!!!!"
Why?
"IT WILL RENDER YOUR CAR A JUNKER. YOU WILL BLOW THE GASKET HEAD AND IT WILL NEED A NEW FUCKING ENGINE."

The tiny parts of "what's really wrong" are far less in cost than it is to have to purchase a new engine.

He has hammered this into us the moment we started reading our driving texts. And the sad part of it is, he got burned by his own rule. He was on his two hour commute back home when the car overheated, but he tried to drive it. The car sits out there and he's only recently been able to get a new motor for it. <_< I hope he's able to fix the car. It's been sitting there for so long and his back troubles are so bad.

I'm hoping I'm wrong. ^_^; I... hope everything will work out for you, Kino.

I'm just glad that you made it back safely.

[Kimiko]

Kino survives her troubled car adventure with the help of her awesome family. Yayness

[ZetaBladeX13]

[Riseatrance]

[negzee]

'Sup Trance.

[Kinokokao]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Sampson]

[Riseatrance]

[Kinokokao]

HELLO TRANCE <33

please still be around when I'm playing EO3