So I was suppose to be going to the VA today (Wednesday 12/02) and just as I was getting ready to head for the door and start driving to Seattle my phone rings and it's my lovely daughter. And I can tell right away that something is wrong by the way she's talking on the phone. She was headed home from college for the break until the first of the year. So I'm like WTF?? Didn't say that but was thinking it for sure. So she's like DAD my car just broke down on me... Now I'm thinking great now what? So we go thru 20 questions and I'm thinking to myself that she needs to start riding the bus. Well I don't know how she does it but the clutch has gone out in her car. Yes the Subaru that I had got her in May because the clutch had gone out in her Jeep in April. So now I'm hitting boiling point in under 2 micro seconds but do my very best not to blow my top and start yelling because it isn't going to help. So I ask Okay do you know what mile marker you are near? Also what is the closest city? So she's just north of Salem, OR. So I tell her okay I'll call you back in about 10-15 minutes. So hop on my trusty laptop and start looking for a Subaru dealer. Ok good there is one in Salem so I try to call them and get to play the let me transfer you. After about 10 minutes of being transferred and still never getting in contact with anyone I hang up. So I try calling to places that had popped up saying they only work on Subaru's and both are the wrong number.
So at this point I call her back and ask if she's called AAA yet. She had but they won't dispatch a truck to her until she has a destination. So I hang up again and get back on my trusty laptop and do a quick search of places I can get the car towed to where she can sit until I can get there to pick her up. Lucky me there is a Pilot truck stop up the road about 10 miles. So I call her back and give her the address to the Pilot at the Brooks, OR. Then I go out and hook my trailer up to my truck and get some gear loaded into the truck and get ready to head to OR. I call the VA and change the date for my appointment and then make one last check to make sure I'm ready. Walk over to my neighbors and ask if she can come over about every 4 hours and let the dogs out and to feed them. She's like YEP not a problem.
So now it is noon as I am pulling onto the freeway headed south in a round about way because there isn't any road that will take me in a direct route to where I'm going. I make great time down to OR via I-82 & SR97 until I get on I-205 and then it's stop and go traffic for the next 30-40 miles even once I'm on I-5 south bound. It finally clears up about 10 miles from my exit and I arrive around 4:40 PM. Okay not really bad travel time as I wasn't pushing it and was doing the truck speed limit since I'd forgotten my wallet at home... Yep I drove to OR and back without my license or my debit or credit card so that I could fill up if needed. Lucky for me that I try to keep my rig pretty close to full during the winter so I had just under a full tank. I knew once I got there to pick her up I could get fuel then because she had her debit card and I could transfer some funds onto it. There were some people watching me get the ramps all setup that came over to help push the car up on the trailer. Yep I have a winch sitting in my garage that I keep saying I'm gunna mount onto my trailer but as with a lot of things I just haven't gotten it done yet.
So I spent 11 hours in my truck today doing nothing but looking at road slide past me. 20 years ago I'd have laughed at someone for saying how rough driving for 11 hours is on someone. But now that I'm on the downhill side of 59 it kicks my ass. And the whole trip back was in the dark and I hate driving in the dark when I'm towing a trailer. She had a friend with her so we stopped at my house and unhooked the trailer and them drove another 45 minutes to drop the friend off and then came back home. I'm still trying to UNWIND so I'm not ready to fall asleep yet. So I figured I'd share my story. So much for my savings account that was there to purchase a snowblower & the Fox shocks for the Jeep. It'll just get pushed back a little bit.
So I need some thoughts from those of you who have driven and worked on manual transmission vehicles. She said she was just driving down the freeway when all of the sudden the car started to slow down and the RPM's were climbing higher. So the clutch just BOOM went out. My experiance with clutches were that they would start slipping and such letting you know there was a problem before giving up the ghost. So I'm stumped about this as. I'm hoping it's something EASY (no such thing) like the clutch and not a blown transmission. I'm just stumped that it gave no indication that the clutch just went out.
So that was my HUMP day. How was yours?
So at this point I call her back and ask if she's called AAA yet. She had but they won't dispatch a truck to her until she has a destination. So I hang up again and get back on my trusty laptop and do a quick search of places I can get the car towed to where she can sit until I can get there to pick her up. Lucky me there is a Pilot truck stop up the road about 10 miles. So I call her back and give her the address to the Pilot at the Brooks, OR. Then I go out and hook my trailer up to my truck and get some gear loaded into the truck and get ready to head to OR. I call the VA and change the date for my appointment and then make one last check to make sure I'm ready. Walk over to my neighbors and ask if she can come over about every 4 hours and let the dogs out and to feed them. She's like YEP not a problem.
So now it is noon as I am pulling onto the freeway headed south in a round about way because there isn't any road that will take me in a direct route to where I'm going. I make great time down to OR via I-82 & SR97 until I get on I-205 and then it's stop and go traffic for the next 30-40 miles even once I'm on I-5 south bound. It finally clears up about 10 miles from my exit and I arrive around 4:40 PM. Okay not really bad travel time as I wasn't pushing it and was doing the truck speed limit since I'd forgotten my wallet at home... Yep I drove to OR and back without my license or my debit or credit card so that I could fill up if needed. Lucky for me that I try to keep my rig pretty close to full during the winter so I had just under a full tank. I knew once I got there to pick her up I could get fuel then because she had her debit card and I could transfer some funds onto it. There were some people watching me get the ramps all setup that came over to help push the car up on the trailer. Yep I have a winch sitting in my garage that I keep saying I'm gunna mount onto my trailer but as with a lot of things I just haven't gotten it done yet.
So I spent 11 hours in my truck today doing nothing but looking at road slide past me. 20 years ago I'd have laughed at someone for saying how rough driving for 11 hours is on someone. But now that I'm on the downhill side of 59 it kicks my ass. And the whole trip back was in the dark and I hate driving in the dark when I'm towing a trailer. She had a friend with her so we stopped at my house and unhooked the trailer and them drove another 45 minutes to drop the friend off and then came back home. I'm still trying to UNWIND so I'm not ready to fall asleep yet. So I figured I'd share my story. So much for my savings account that was there to purchase a snowblower & the Fox shocks for the Jeep. It'll just get pushed back a little bit.
So I need some thoughts from those of you who have driven and worked on manual transmission vehicles. She said she was just driving down the freeway when all of the sudden the car started to slow down and the RPM's were climbing higher. So the clutch just BOOM went out. My experiance with clutches were that they would start slipping and such letting you know there was a problem before giving up the ghost. So I'm stumped about this as. I'm hoping it's something EASY (no such thing) like the clutch and not a blown transmission. I'm just stumped that it gave no indication that the clutch just went out.
So that was my HUMP day. How was yours?