Today was a difficult day. It started out well, with a nice walk this morning with Walter to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. The trees are changing up here and the views are amazing. So, after the walk I have some breakfast, check emails, and head to the gym. After an invigorating work out, I head back to the Jeep in the parking lot. Jump in, place the keys in the ignition, aaannd . . . my day is ruined.

I turn the key and all the dials on the dashboard go nutso. Spinning around and dancing like a hippie at a Phish concert. The drop back to zero after about 30 seconds. Then the engine revs, but the doesn’t catch. So, I do the only logical thing, try it another dozen times over the course of 15 minutes. Please remember that I am a total sweaty mess to start out with, and getting hotter (both figuratively and literally) by the second. At this point I realized that I do not have my wallet or purse. UGH!

A bit of background now: Shawn is currently in Hong Kong for work. He left on Saturday and will not be back until the 21st. Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead from Madison time. This is going on at noon, so it is 1 in the morning there.

So, I call Shawn. I have no idea what to do. We don’t know ANYONE here in Madison to call, not to mention where I should have the car taken. Poor Shawn, he listens to my freak out and calms me down. I go back into the gym to see if anyone can help me figure out who to call to get the thing towed and hopefully get a ride home. God bless Larry. He is one of the janitors at the gym. He goes out and takes a look at the car to make sure he can’t fix it. Then tells me to call the local garage that is close to the house to tow it and check it out. He says that they are reliable and should also be able to give me a ride home. 

So, I call the garage and they send someone out to check it out. He says that they need to get a flatbed truck out to tow it, but shouldn’t be a problem. He gives me a ride back to the house so I can shower and change to get up to the garage to sign the service agreement.

I can only say that thank God for the kindness of strangers. I wouldn’t know what I would have done otherwise. It kind of made me realize how isolated we are here, compared to CMH, where I would have had numerous people to call for a ride and just the right garage to take the car.

So, now I have to wait to see what the verdict is. . . I hope that they can save him. I love that Jeep.