I finally feel like we're caught up enough that I can sit down and write a bit about our trip to Indiana and the harrowing story of our return. Since Keven left on the 19th, I have been getting used to life without him while still having the my family (and cable TV) around to keep things fairly carefree.
On Wednesday last week, I took the girls to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend. The weather was a little grim and we had to use an umbrella at some point, but the diversion was nice. The zoo itself is not particularly large, and there were a number of school groups there (for end-of-year field trips, I assume), but the landscaping was nice. Most of the animals were asleep, so the girls were ready to move on from each exhibit as soon as we arrived. Luckily, I rented a little wagon to drag them around, so I was not limited to Ilsa's walking pace.
Friday night, I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand with my brother and his wife. We spent hours at Steak 'n' Shake debating its endless flaws and waxing reminiscent about our comic geekdom of yore. Then Sunday found us, as is Indiana tradition, gathered around various televisions for the Indy 500. It was a great race, certainly one of the best in years - despite the fact that our favorites did not win. Too bad, Andrettis!
Monday, I loaded the girls and all our stuff into my mom's giant green F-150, which has to be the only one of its kind - especially because it is adorned with various Boer goat stickers! I had taken it to Jiffy Lube on Saturday afternoon, so we were ready to go.... so I thought. Just after crossing into Wisconsin, the air conditioning stopped working, all the lights flared to life on the instrument panel, and I suddenly discovered - in the midst of overtaking a semi - that I had the steering capabilities of a tank.
I pulled off the highway at the nearest exit, in a city called Beloit, and managed to (wo)man-handle the truck through a U-Turn and into a truckstop. Turns out that the serpentine belt had jumped its track, shredded, and wound its various spaghetti-like bits around the fan turbine. Yay! Being that it was 95F that day, we quickly made it inside the combination truckstop/Taco Bell and called various repair places. The only one that had a mechanic on call on Memorial Day was a company that specializes in semi repairs, not personal autos. However, I must have sounded desperate enough for the man to come and help.
After he removed the bits from around the fan and made sure none of the working parts were locked, he left in his company truck to get a new belt at a local parts store. He returned a half hour later in a minivan. What's up? Turns out the wheel bearings on his work truck blew and he left the debilitated thing in the parking lot of the parts store. His house, luckily, was only a few blocks away, so he walked to his home and drove back to rescue us using his minivan. How cool was Dan of Stateline Truck Service??? Too cool! We were able to get back on the road after about two hours, leaving poor Dan with the task of fixing his own truck before returning to the household chores we had interrupted in calling him.
The apartment was blazing hot when we finally got home - after about 8 1/2 hours on the road - because it had been closed up and roasting in 90F heat all weekend. Even before bringing everything in from the truck I fetched the wall unit AC from the basement and installed it. Blessed Freon!
It's good to be back. Today, we'll be heading to Brennan's for fruit and cheese and then to the library downtown. Tomorrow, it's a park date with Jenn & Calvin and then another on Friday with the MOMS' Club. I'm relatively on my own for the next three months, and I'm still working on the process of hammering out a new way of existing for us - but at least I have Mom's truck! Thanks Mom!
In other news, Keven is still alive and doing fine in Virginia, slowly adjusting to his own challenges as a solo guy. But at least he is back online, at long last!
On Wednesday last week, I took the girls to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend. The weather was a little grim and we had to use an umbrella at some point, but the diversion was nice. The zoo itself is not particularly large, and there were a number of school groups there (for end-of-year field trips, I assume), but the landscaping was nice. Most of the animals were asleep, so the girls were ready to move on from each exhibit as soon as we arrived. Luckily, I rented a little wagon to drag them around, so I was not limited to Ilsa's walking pace.
Friday night, I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand with my brother and his wife. We spent hours at Steak 'n' Shake debating its endless flaws and waxing reminiscent about our comic geekdom of yore. Then Sunday found us, as is Indiana tradition, gathered around various televisions for the Indy 500. It was a great race, certainly one of the best in years - despite the fact that our favorites did not win. Too bad, Andrettis!
Monday, I loaded the girls and all our stuff into my mom's giant green F-150, which has to be the only one of its kind - especially because it is adorned with various Boer goat stickers! I had taken it to Jiffy Lube on Saturday afternoon, so we were ready to go.... so I thought. Just after crossing into Wisconsin, the air conditioning stopped working, all the lights flared to life on the instrument panel, and I suddenly discovered - in the midst of overtaking a semi - that I had the steering capabilities of a tank.
I pulled off the highway at the nearest exit, in a city called Beloit, and managed to (wo)man-handle the truck through a U-Turn and into a truckstop. Turns out that the serpentine belt had jumped its track, shredded, and wound its various spaghetti-like bits around the fan turbine. Yay! Being that it was 95F that day, we quickly made it inside the combination truckstop/Taco Bell and called various repair places. The only one that had a mechanic on call on Memorial Day was a company that specializes in semi repairs, not personal autos. However, I must have sounded desperate enough for the man to come and help.
After he removed the bits from around the fan and made sure none of the working parts were locked, he left in his company truck to get a new belt at a local parts store. He returned a half hour later in a minivan. What's up? Turns out the wheel bearings on his work truck blew and he left the debilitated thing in the parking lot of the parts store. His house, luckily, was only a few blocks away, so he walked to his home and drove back to rescue us using his minivan. How cool was Dan of Stateline Truck Service??? Too cool! We were able to get back on the road after about two hours, leaving poor Dan with the task of fixing his own truck before returning to the household chores we had interrupted in calling him.
The apartment was blazing hot when we finally got home - after about 8 1/2 hours on the road - because it had been closed up and roasting in 90F heat all weekend. Even before bringing everything in from the truck I fetched the wall unit AC from the basement and installed it. Blessed Freon!
It's good to be back. Today, we'll be heading to Brennan's for fruit and cheese and then to the library downtown. Tomorrow, it's a park date with Jenn & Calvin and then another on Friday with the MOMS' Club. I'm relatively on my own for the next three months, and I'm still working on the process of hammering out a new way of existing for us - but at least I have Mom's truck! Thanks Mom!
In other news, Keven is still alive and doing fine in Virginia, slowly adjusting to his own challenges as a solo guy. But at least he is back online, at long last!
2 comments:
That was an adventure!
How did the girls behave?
On another note, did you get anything in the post?
X
Good to hear you eventually got back OK, Dan sounds like legend, nice that there are still a few people out there that will put themselves out for others.
Post a Comment