Race Car Driver

The weekend...

As soon as Hubby got home from work on Friday, I left for the big D (little a, double l, a, s). Normally when I leave Kiddo with Hubby, I kind of sneak out or leave when he is preoccupied with something else. This time however, we decided I should tell Kiddo that Mommy was going on a trip and would be back in a couple of days.

I'm not sure when the screaming stopped, but I was most definitely out of the city limits by that time...

When I got to the downtown area, I was immersed in the tangle of highways and interchanges and I happened to look down and notice that my "check engine" light was flashing at me. I called Hubby on the cell and jokingly asked what it meant to have that light flash at you.

"Get off the road!! Get off the road and pull over NOW!!" was the reply.

Um, well, let me look to my left; three lanes of solid cars moving at about 60mph. Let me look to my right; concrete. Yeeee-ahhhh.

So I am still talking to him and we are discussing what could be the problem and he asks me what happened when I pulled over.

I was still on the freeway.

There was no way for me to get off anywhere at that moment. I was stuck between concrete and cars and there was no way pulling over was even an option. I began to shake; fearing that the car would just stop by itself and I would come rolling to a halt, only to be creamed by some distracted driver. I was in a panic, and I think Hubby was too somewhat. Finally, after getting on to another freeway I found an exit that went down to surface streets.

I pulled over into the parking lot of an abandoned building and shut down the car. Hubby told me to look in the car manual and see if it said anything about the check engine light. I opened the glove box to a stash of napkins, paper and various condiments...

So after rapid internet research on Hubby's end, he determined that I could turn on the car again; I did and everything seemed ok. The light was on but steady and the car was running fine. With Hubby still on the phone, he used a satellite image on Google Maps to guide me back to the freeway. Gotta love technology!

I made it to my friend's house after a misguided tour of the neighborhood, and was greeted warmly by my friend and her hubby. After some great conversation, we went over the plan for the next day and retired to bed. I couldn't wait to spend the day with my friends and my camera.

Until,
D :)