Car trouble on a country road

The mechanics are doing well by the Love family lately. A few weeks ago Bill had the loose steering wheel on the gas guzzler pickup fixed. It's been so loose for years that every trip down the road involved "Hail Mary's" that we'd be able to steer it back home.

Now that it's steering wheel stand stays firmly in its socket, the only thing that twirls is the wheel, and that's a good thing.

Now that the steering wheel is safe, we have one more hazardous situation to fix---the driver's side door. I know the day is coming where, just like our van of years past, we'll round a corner, the door will fly open and with the steering wheel no longer coming with us, we've got trouble.

The door will have to wait, though, for the next infusion of funds into the "Fix-it Coffers." Meanwhile, God is still hearing those "Hail Mary's."

Now, Willie had too much on his mind to mumble "Hail Mary's" all the way up from Boise yesterday with his car that had just the opposite problem of our gas guzzler pickup. His steering wheel didn't want to move. So, he knew his arms would get a little tired, and he took the car to the shop.

The mechanic needed a part and a payment of $850-plus dollars to get it fixed and running by the 3 p.m. Boise time deadline Willie had given him. Willie needed to get up here and get some pre-planning done for his classes, so he gave a deadline. Apparently, the mechanic met it because Willie's red Taurus is sitting out here in the driveway, and I can hear rustling upstairs as I write.

He got in sometime after Late-thirty.

I told Willie in one phone conversation that he was not alone in having car troubles. Actually, Annie had beaten him to the punch last week when her clutch started giving her major fits. She got lots of stories on how it could be fixed or couldn't be fixed, but finally someone fixed it, to the tune of $1,000.

Well, not to be outdone, I guess our Jimmy wanted to be part of the fun. Yesterday I took my mother and my sisters to the Bonner County Fair. We had a great time, and Mother enjoyed seeing a lot of folks she knows, along with several exhibits.

I also discovered in our rounds that my tomatoes earned a red ribbon, so my earlier ASS-U-MPTIONS of winning "one stinkin' ribbon" were unfounded.

When we left the fairgrounds, we could hear a dull roar in the back end of the car. It was intermittent. When we arrived at Colburn and had gotten Mother back into her house, I walked toward my car and saw the reason behind the dull roar. The tailpipe was hanging at an odd angle.

We all agreed that I'd be getting a new muffler. I said I'd get the car home, and we'd decide from there what came next. Well, after driving carefully down Center Valley Road, I rounded the corner onto South Center Valley. That's when any thoughts of a dull roar had immediately escalated into big thumps. A few seconds later, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw clouds of smoke trailing behind.

I stopped the car, parked it close to the ditch (the road is being used as a detour route while Selle Road is being prepared for paving). The tailpipe had become lodged between the tire and the car frame. There was no moving it from that position. I tried once with a rotten stick. When the tail pipe moved a fraction of an inch, the stick broke.

So, I got my keys and flagged down the next car. Since I was more than a mile from home, walking was not an efficient option. A neighbor picked me up and dropped me off. Then, I climbed in the 4-wheeler, drove back to the car and retrieved my groceries and purse. I wanted to move the car off the road, but thoughts of completely ruining the tire told me to leave it there.

Later, Bill came home, and we spent 45 minutes with a crowbar and hack saw trying to dislodge the tail pipe. Finally, we just removed the tire. That tailpipe has been in sad shape for some time, we discovered. Today we may be able to get in to have a new muffler installed.

Anyway, car repairs among our family in the past few weeks have amounted to approximately $3,000, and I guess we should be thankful. Maybe we should have done the clunker thing, but somehow I think we're still money ahead of that program.

Whatever the case, we can be proud that we're helping the American economy by putting our money in someone else's pocket. Plus, we're still getting to where we need to be.

Today, for me, it's to the hairdresser for the bi-monthly ZAP and to the county fair to meet Rose Marie for our annual BRAT. Both are good for the soul, and they don't cost nearly as much as the transportation to get there.

Here comes Willie downstairs to get his car rolling down to the school, hopefully to see his classroom.

Happy Thursday.