Ummm....2 nights to myself?

Well my night to myself Friday night ended up turning into almost 2 nights to myself. David left Chicago with the Bronco around noon and planned to take back roads "just in case". Plus he didn't like the idea of driving on the interstate at high speeds without a seat belt. So it should have been about a 6-7 hour drive, depending on traffic and how often he stopped. Instead it took him 14 hours. Yeah, you heard right...14 hours.

He kept having small issues and met a lot of friendly people along the way who gave him a hand. He had taken his toolbox, "just in case", so he was prepared to do minor work. I think he visited several parts stores along the way too. The problem always seemed to be the battery. He called me around 9pm and was stopped. He thought maybe he should just buy a new battery but there weren't any stores nearby and he had no way to get to a store since the Bronco had shut down. He met a guy who offered to charge the battery for him and called me back around 10pm to tell me he was on the road again and would not turn the Bronco off again. Low and behold, he calls me at midnight & says he had to stop & get gas, and forgot to leave it running. I think it was one of those "duh" moments where as soon as he shut it off he remembered that he needed to leave it running, but that was 2 seconds too late, ya know?

So he's in a small town, at a closed gas station (pay at the pump is wonderful, right, you can buy gas even when the station is closed), with no way to get anywhere. Fortunately he's only about 40 miles from home, but still...Matthew has been in bed for 4 hours and there's no one I would call at midnight to come stay with him. So I get Matthew out of bed, in the car, and head off to find my husband. What an adventure! I get there and he connects the jumper cables so we sit for a while just to let the battery get a good charge. (It won't start just with the cables, we HAD to sit for a while.) Finally it starts and we are on the road. David actually stopped again because it was losing so much power his headlights were not working. I charged it again and that was enough to make it home. (Side note: Matthew was very good this entire trip - I hoped he would sleep but he didn't, he stayed awake the entire time, but was quiet and not fussy. Then he slept in Sunday so we could too!)


The Bronco looks good but after the trip Saturday I am pretty worried about the amount of work that needs to be put into it. David has always been able to do whatever work we needed on our cars but I am afraid this will be a money pit. I guess only time will tell. Now of course the first priority has changed from seat belts to getting it running consistently. I think instead of selling the Jeep this fall it will be next year sometime. Oh well, this gives him a hobby he can do at home.

David later shared a funny story about while he was at the gas station. It was next door to a package shop and at some point while he was waiting on me some pretty intoxicated guys came of out the package shop, drove over to the gas station, and tried to go in. I guess they saw David out front and assumed it was open, but anyway, they opened the front door, but couldn't actually go in because there was a gate type door that was behind the regular door. After the guy opened the door, David said he ran back to the car and they drove away. Fast forward a few minutes and 2 police cars come racing up. One of the cops immediately starts questioning David while the other goes to check out the store. Turns out the guy opening the front door triggered the alarm. David explained what happened to the police and luckily they believed him. So the cops called the store owner - he had forgotten to actually lock the door when he closed up for the night. Good thing he pulled the gate door thingy closed!