The Icewoman Cometh

Last night, on the way home from work, my car broke down. I suppose the steam billowing from under the hood when I finally managed to START the car, should have been a good indication that the rest of the night would be crappy. But the guys told me it probably just needed more antifreeze, which i put in before I left. That took like, 30 seconds, and my fingers were blocks of ice when I left the parking lot.

I managed to get my frozen fingers around the steering wheel and prayed for my car to warm up quickly. It did not. Instead, it chugged and sputtered rebelliously, and crawled forward sluggishly. Finally, it refused to move any further and died, right on the highway. Cars are flying past me. I'm standing out there, looking under the hood (and I realize I don't have a flashlight, so its pointless) and the wind is billowing my coat and plus its so cold my coat is getting stiff, so I'm walking like Frankenstien. My hood is up, but its not keeping me very warm.

Some guy comes out to help me finally, and tells me to start the car so he can see what it does, since it keeps dying. It starts. And keeps running. He says he'll follow me till I get it to a gas station about a mile away; I need to get it off the highway. I manage to get it to the gas station, and I tell him I'll wait for my Dad to come pick me up at a bar/restaraunt across the street, where it was warm. So the guy who helps me leaves, cuz I'm good to go, right? So I walk over to Four Corners. I can't wait to get inside where its warm, where I can have a steaming mug of coffee and thaw my fingers.

They are closed. This is NOT cool. And I am not thinking happy thoughts.

So I go back to my car and get out of the wind, where its about 2 degrees warmer than outside. At least there's no wind. I call my mom back and tell her I'll have someone from work pick me up and I'll wait there.

I call work. I get informed that someone can pick me up after patrols are done.

So I sit and wait in car, turning slowly into a block of ice. The coffee that I had taken when I left work is cold. So am I. My breath is coming out in nice little white clouds, and I can't feel my feet anymore.

Finally, a coworker shows up and he's got the heat up full blast and I start to feel human again.

My dad picks me up at work half an hour later, and then wants to go check the car out. Its only 1 am, and 300 below zero out. I tell him its too cold and he says, he'll be fine.

He does a very speedy inspection, comes back in and catches his breath. He takes off his fogged glasses and finally manages to say, "It's Cooooold out there!

So my head gasket is cracked, which is a pain to fix, and prolly more money than my car is even worth, so I get to look for an old beater to drive now.

I'm sure I'll be able to supply you with plenty of amusing and entertaining stories about the new car I get. As long as it gets me from point a to point b, I don't care.