Friday I had to take John and Megan to the dentist. Grrr. I told Megan to just drive there from school so that I wouldn’t have to pick her up, as well. She found it and met us there. She was finished before John was, so she was going to just drive herself home. She came back a minute later and said that the truck wouldn’t start. At all. So I went out to see if there was anything I could do. Right. I came out, and she was right. No turning over. We tried a different key, we tried shifting to different gears, and nothing worked. I suggested she try to start it by popping the clutch, which is something I haven’t done in many years, but I was pushing the car in the parking lot, and she was going to try to start it that way. Nothing. Maybe that little trick doesn’t work in reverse, I wondered. So, we tried pushing it forward. Ahem. Pushing it backward had been not so hard, as there was a slight downhill slope. Pushing it back up that slope? Not so easy. I was pushing it so slow, there was nothing we could really do. Time to call dad. He was actually on his way home and said he could be there in a few minutes. We managed to push it back to the parking spot so we weren’t blocking other cars, and Megan grabbed the door handle and it came off in her hand.
FREAK! She said. I lost it. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe, and I SO wished we had a camera and had filmed this whole fiasco.
I went back inside to wait for John. Soon Ryan was there, and he managed to A-open the door by reaching through the window, and with two of us pushing the truck backward, he popped the clutch and got it started. Maybe he has more experience at this, since he did drive that truck for about 20 years. Um, yes, it’s an OLD truck. 1990, to be exact.
So, once it was started, Megan was ok to drive it home, with a stern warning not to kill it anytime between there and home.
Later, they drove it up on the ramps at home, checked things that could be checked, and we still don’t know what’s wrong and why it won’t start.
Megan said something about keeping that door handle, and I said, “Oh, you can keep it with both visors that have come off, the emergency brake handle that doesn’t do anything, and all the other parts that have broken off that thing.” Really, it’s an adventure to drive it. Now the kids have to make sure to NOT lock the passenger side door. Because if they DO that, one would have to climb into the back of the truck and open the little window, and reach through and UNLOCK the passenger side door (the key doesn’t work on that door, for some reason), then climb back out, open that door, reach through and open the driver’s side door from the inside. No, that’s not a pain at all.
On Saturday, Ryan and Cole loaded up the garbage cans of grass clippings into the truck, somehow got it started, and took a trip to the Green Recycle place. Not sure how they got it started, but they did. While on the road, Ryan realized he needed to be in the right lane, so we was going to back up and go over there. Well, it seems there was a small car behind him, which he couldn’t see because of the garbage cans in the back. Honk, honk, bump. He backed into a car. Crap. My two men had to PUSH the truck over to the side of the road (because it’s not starting, of course) and exchange insurance information and wait for the police to come. No damage to the truck, of course, but he said it looked like the license plate and holder were bent. Couldn’t tell if there was other damage, but the bumper had some dirt on it. How much damage could there be, honestly? It’s not like he was moving at high speeds, smashing into this car. The good news is that the officer didn’t give him a ticket, even though the other guy was asking WHY he wasn’t citing Ryan for the accident. The bad news…Well, we know all about the bad news in rising insurance costs or we must pay for the damage to the other car. Ugh.
The two of them were texting me while this was going on, then Ryan called while waiting for the police man to leave. They didn’t want to have to PUSH the truck again to get it started while he was there, for some reason. Why not? I think the officer may have been happy to help out, right?
So, now we have this 23 year old truck that will not start (along with many, many other problems). It might be time to let it go. But if we do, I don’t want to have to be the one to list it on KSL classified and haggle with the Mexicans. I did it with the last car and I am NOT good at that.
We’ll see. But for now, I hope you get a good laugh out of the story of our weekend and the little black truck.
Funny story…Kind of frustrating…but we can laugh about it now.
I am laughing.
Ryan was able to pull out the starter and go buy another one and put it in. Wow! I’m so impressed with him. He was covered with grease and dirt and probably ruined his shirt, but at least we didn’t have to pay expensive labor charges and now that truck is running again. Megan took it this morning, and we had to instruct Larissa to never ever lock the passenger side door–Ever!