Car Carr

Me and Car Carr departing Seattle for Alaska
October 30, 2010

I feel like I can breathe again... I have my Car Carr back (what, you didn't name your car?).

It was so nice to be the only person at the gym on Saturday afternoon.  When I left, I was going to go to the grocery store, gas up and then go get a pizza from Mooses’s Tooth but when I pulled out of my parking spot and started to drive off, I realized I didn’t have any brakes.   After my initial “fuck me running” thought I pulled back into my parking spot and began to work on my plan.  I was going to call AAA to tow my car home and take a cab home but alas, that was not to be.   AAA told me that my membership had expired.  Great job, Earp!  But I thought I had put it and all of my bills and memberships on autopay after arriving here since I was so busy taking care of my Father and didn’t ever seem to have time for sit down bill pay sessions.   OK, breathe deep, just need an alternate plan.   I didn’t want to leave my car overnight in midtown in the gym parking lot so made the stunningly smart (I know, I know) decision to drive the 3 miles home at 5 mph.

I actually was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with Car Carr.  Several months ago, I had my brakes done and they told me I was going to need brake lines soon but at the time, I didn’t “want” to afford to get them done and I was told that Ford had a recall for my brake lines so thought I would just go to “Cal” (Cal Worthington Ford) and get them done.   

I love hibernating at home on the weekends but knowing I could not go anywhere, made me feel just a bit trapped.  Go Figure!  And since I didn’t make it to the grocery store meant I had no half & half for my coffee.  I would have to use, gulp, soy milk.   I like it in my smoothies but it is nowhere close to my half & half and it doesn’t make my coffee the caramel color I love.  Really, you’re going to whine about that?   

Ever the cock-eyed optimist, I had to go down on Monday morning and make sure Car Carr was really broke and she was (I can hope, right? ) so I decided I would just take a cab to work.  And I must say, I always thought if I had unlimited funds I would like a personal hairdresser but I think I would like a personal driver instead.   It was nice to call a cab and have them pull up and pick me up.  I would love not to drive as I am sure my passengers and other drivers on the road would also love me not to drive. 

When I called AAA, they told me my membership was not expired, it was on autopay and apologized profusely for the mistake.  They also sent me a reimbursement form for my cab rides and said since they made a mistake that caused me not to be able to have my car in the shop on Monday morning that they should compensate me.  How great is that?!  So, off to a good start here…   I called “Cal” and they looked up my VIN number and told me there was no recall but that my year of Escape (2006) was notorious for having bad brake lines.  Well, isn’t that just fucking peachy!  He then told me that the last time they replaced brake lines for my year, it was $1,500.00.  Fuck, fuck, fuck.  Breathe, breathe.  I then called Meinke who had been doing my oil changes and did my brake work and talked to the manager, Chris and he did him some figuring and gave me an estimate that allowed me to breathe again.  Ironically, on my calendar for this week, I was going to take Car Carr in for the summer oil change and tire rotation. 

Since I had to be home for AAA to pick my car up, it didn’t get towed to the shop until last night.  When I went downstairs to meet the tow truck driver, he was looking down at my car with a look that made me ask him what was wrong.  He pointed to my tire and when I looked down I saw a big shiny nail stuck in my tire.  Of course, there was a nail in my tire…  Geez.  

Even though I had been given an estimate, I steeled myself for there to be more wrong than I thought and it would cost me more than I was already going to have to spend.  Hey, if I expect the worst, then whatever it is that is not the worse, allows me to work backwards on my stress.  I know, but I cannot stop my compulsion to plan everything and be in control.  Yeah, right, you’re in control…    

So, took another cab to work and this cab driver gave me his card and told me anytime I needed a cab to call him directly.  Hmmm, personal cab driver….   I like it!  Anchorage is a very cab friendly town but a tough, tough, tough place to get a DUI so if I ever think I am going to have more than two drinks, I take a cab and I always take a cab to the airport.

When Chris called to tell me my vehicle was ready to be picked up, I asked for the total and it was $50 less than he told me and my oil change was free (you get every 5^th one free) and no tire repair was needed since it was actually just a short screw (short screw, yeah, that’s juvenilely funny to me).  So, for the fair price of $302.87, Car Carr was returned to me and we drove off to Starbucks for iced coffee and double chocolate chunky brownies!  Car Carr back a caffeine & chocolate fix, life is sweeeet!!