Today went a bit differently than planned. I got up and after the normal morning tasks loaded the kids and my gear in the car to take them to school. As many of you know, I live on a mountain, so driving the boys to school can take 30-45 minutes or occasionally longer.

The weather was beautiful the past couple of days so there really wasn’t much to deal with as far as snow and ice and we made it down the mountain in good time. I dropped off both boys and then headed back up the mountain to my friend Val’s house.

Val and I get together most Tuesday mornings to work on crochet projects and visit. Today’s plan was to block a couple of new designs that I have due soon. Val has a nice big workspace, so she had volunteered her floor for this.

Unfortunately the universe had different plans for me. I was just about half way up the first big hill heading up into the mountains when my car suddenly began to seriously misbehave. Seemed like every warning light that is on my dash lit up. There was also a horrible burning rubber smell, not something one wants to smell while driving a vehicle.

I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I knew I needed to get off the road quickly and safely. So I pulled off and shut the car off.

Next, I checked my phone to see if I had any cel service where I was. I had a very low signal, but was able to call Val to let her know I was having car difficulties and wouldn’t be able to make it up to her house. Next I tried to call my husband, but the phone wouldn’t let me call out. Instead I got a message that said, “Emergency calls only.”

Things didn’t seem dire enough to call 9-1-1 though, so I got back in the car to look for my roadside assistance info. When I tried the phone again I was able to call my husband, then the roadside folks.

It took awhile to get them all the info they needed to send a tow vehicle to me, and we got cut off in the middle of the call. Fortunately my husband was able to text me, so I wasn’t completely on my own. Though I was wondering how in the world I was going to make all the appointments I had planned for the afternoon.

I decided to try texting my contacts that the appointments were with, and happily it worked. So that was one worry off my mind, now I just needed to get the roadside assistance folks moving.

By this time my engine had cooled down enough I decided to look under the hood to see if there was any way to drive the car back down the hill. But I discovered that the problem was the belt had broken and tangled in the engine. No way was I going to attempt driving my massive car without power-steering.

I sat there for a while and had a talk with myself about how lucky I was despite this inconvenience.

Point 1) I was super lucky that the belt hadn’t broken when I was driving at speed. Going uphill at 30 mph was a much better and safer situation than on the highway at 55 or 65 mph.

Point 2) At least I had some cel service, I could have been a lot further along the mountain or even in the canyon when this happened.

Point 3) The boys were already at school before the car pooped out.

Point 4) Neither of my afternoon appointments were life and death, and I would definitely have something resolved by the time the boys needed to be picked up from school.

Point 5) I was only about 3-4 miles from my favorite car repair place, so if I had to, I could walk there.

Then the phone rang, it was the roadside assistance folks calling me back. They had been trying for a while, but kept going to Voice mail because of the poor signal. Luckily they had kept trying. We got a tow truck lined up and they told me I would get a text once the tow company was on its way.

The text came thru, but it was only a confirmation and a URL to monitor progress. There definitely wasn’t any internet access where I was. So I texted the URL info to Himself. He was able to check on the status and let me know what was happening. Text service was patchy, but working a bit better than voice.

Finally all I had left to do was wait for the tow service to arrive. I am always prepared for a wait though, I had 3 different crochet projects along with me (as well as my computer).  I crocheted and worked on pattern editing while I waited. Now you knew there would be crochet somewhere in this story. Unfortunately I can’t show you what I was crocheting on since it is all hush-hush until it is published.

About the time I was starting to worry that the tow service driver had gotten lost he pulled up. In just a few minutes he had my car all trussed up like an oversized turkey and we made the short drive to Super Rupair.

The folks at Super Rupair were super as always. They got me set up with a loaner car. Again I was lucky, they were having a slow day and would be able to fix everything by the end of the day. I took the loaner car and headed out to my appointments. While waiting for my second appointment I had a conversation with a goose.

After I was all finished with my appointments I picked up my boys after school without any problem. I took the boys to Subway for an early dinner, then we went to Super Rupair to get my car. They had just finished up with it and 10 minutes later we were on the road home.

Things I learnt from today’s adventure:

Always carry my hiking boots in the back of the car, even if the weather is unusually warm and I don’t think I’ll need them. I would have been more up for a hike down to the garage if I had my boots with me instead of wearing loafers.

It’s good to have snacks with me in the car, just in case.

And confirmation of my rule about always having a crochet project along with me. I would have been much more stressed if I didn’t have my crochet to focus on.

I hope all my readers are having a good week so far and this story will be a reminder to you than no matter what, there is always a bit of luck.