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The Automobile Saga

After arranging to get a ride to work with a co-worker last Friday, we arrived at 150 North Broad Street only to realize that I'd forgotten the keys to my car! Since I had called for a tow truck through Triple A before leaving home, I had to hope that Angie could beat the tow truck to my office and bring my keys with her. Unfortunately, that didn't happen so I had to tell the tow guy to leave, which put me back into the queue for a tow. After Angie dropped off the keys, I called to reschedule the tow. Five minutes later I tried starting my car, and it started! I was faced with a dilemma: leave it running and drive to the mechanic in Maple Shade (Angie could meet me and take me back to work); turn off the car and wait for the tow truck; or turn it off, cancel the tow and hope that it would start when I had to leave work. I opted for option #1: drive immediately to the mechanic.

I called AAA while driving and canceled the tow (this was a bit more of an ordeal than it had to be), then I called Angie (who had just left Philly) and asked her to meet me in Maple Shade at the auto shop. On Monday, I was $250 poorer but the car was running again so I was happy.

Next on the list of car issues was replacing the two front tires, which were practically bald and one had a slow air leak so I was having to stop and fill it at least monthly. Took the car over to Just Tires in Cherry Hill this morning and had them put two new Goodyear Eagle GT's on the front and do a front-end alignment. While they were doing that, Ryan picked me up and we went over to Fox Meadow Driving Range to hit a couple of large buckets for an hour. [We had tried to play a 9-hole round of golf with dad on Friday, but the rain killed that idea.] So, $350 later I've got two new front tires and the car seems to drive better than it did before. At least I'll feel safer when driving on wet roads now.

I still need air conditioning and I have to get that clanging sound taken care of at some point. But for now, I'm hoping the car isn't waiting to spring any more surprises on me.

Comments

Anonymous said…
God! I hope things go better for you with this car! I just found out that my heat shield is falling off my car now!

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