Well... *that* scraped...
Feb. 21st, 2005 03:20 amI'm just now home after spending nearly two hours stranded along US101 in East Palo Alto... after an otherwise-pleasant evening with ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenacious_snail in Berkeley, I headed home around 12:40am, a bit late. At 1:15, just after passing the IKEA store, suddenly the Mustang's tachometer goes to zero. No bang or bump, slight oil smell, engine brakes as though I'd put it in low. I eased it to the right shoulder. Wouldn't restart. It's pouring rain outside, in the dark. I call and wake patgreene at home a few miles away, who mumbles thanks for calling in and goes back to sleep.
I didn't have my road service card, so I had to call my insurance company and get them to transfer me. The road service agent took down my location and particulars and told me 30-45 minutes, at 1:30am. At 2am she calls back to inform me that the towing company had refused the pickup because I was out of their service area (the idiots had booked a company in Burlingame, not bothering to ask me what city was closest.). After a few minutes on hold, the agent tells me that they now have a local Mountain View tow truck coming... in another 45 minutes. Still raining. Trucks sweeping by at high speeds cause the car to shudder. I've got everything except the hazard flasher shut off to conserve power, because I don't know how long I'll be stuck out there, or the battery life.
At 2:45am a tow truck shows up (he says that he'd only gotten the call from his dispatch 15 min earlier) and takes the car to the shop we use, then kindly drops me near my house. Sigh... now to worry about what's wrong with the car, and the cost of repairs... hopefully just an electrical short, given all of the rain.
tenacious_snail in Berkeley, I headed home around 12:40am, a bit late. At 1:15, just after passing the IKEA store, suddenly the Mustang's tachometer goes to zero. No bang or bump, slight oil smell, engine brakes as though I'd put it in low. I eased it to the right shoulder. Wouldn't restart. It's pouring rain outside, in the dark. I call and wake patgreene at home a few miles away, who mumbles thanks for calling in and goes back to sleep.I didn't have my road service card, so I had to call my insurance company and get them to transfer me. The road service agent took down my location and particulars and told me 30-45 minutes, at 1:30am. At 2am she calls back to inform me that the towing company had refused the pickup because I was out of their service area (the idiots had booked a company in Burlingame, not bothering to ask me what city was closest.). After a few minutes on hold, the agent tells me that they now have a local Mountain View tow truck coming... in another 45 minutes. Still raining. Trucks sweeping by at high speeds cause the car to shudder. I've got everything except the hazard flasher shut off to conserve power, because I don't know how long I'll be stuck out there, or the battery life.
At 2:45am a tow truck shows up (he says that he'd only gotten the call from his dispatch 15 min earlier) and takes the car to the shop we use, then kindly drops me near my house. Sigh... now to worry about what's wrong with the car, and the cost of repairs... hopefully just an electrical short, given all of the rain.
