april fools...

...the joke's on ME.

Yesterday, I headed to Utah right after work to spend the weekend with my awesome family. As I was driving down I-15 past Blackfoot, I noticed my "check engine" light was on. I thought to myself, "Well, I'm headed to Utah, where Goose can take a look at it..." and that's just about as far as my thoughts were allowed to go, because something started smoking under the hood of my car.

This is a real story, folks.

I pulled over, put on my hazard lights, and opened the hood, only to stare blankly at all those parts. I noticed that some sort of liquid had exploded out of...some roundish part at the back of the hood on the passenger's side.

I can handle stress, my friends; but perhaps I don't handle it all that well when it deals with cars. (Okay, there's no "maybe" about it; I hate car stress.)

I immediately texted my brother Goose and another friend who knows cars (shout-out to Mr. Merrill!) to get their feedback...but both of them were busy and unable to respond for a bit.

I started wondering if this had anything to do with Handsome Rob's accident from nearly 2 months ago; I only got Handsome Rob back a month ago (March 1), and this is the first time I had driven him on the freeway since his return.

So I called Dad. It happened at something like 6:02, and I knew my agent would not be in her office, but I called Allstate anyway. Of course she was out of her office, so I called the 800 number to see what the heck I should do (mostly because I was concerned that this might have something to do with Handsome Rob's previous claim from February.)

Now I don't want to give Allstate a bad rap, because they are typically fantastic to work with. Typically. The two guys I talked to yesterday were ridiculously...unhelpful. I told them (both) my situation, explaining from the very start, "I'm not sure what the devil is going on, etc., etc.," and the second guy (who was supposed to be more helpful than the first) said, "Well where did the liquid come from? Your radiator?"

Umm...really? I. Have. No. Idea. I could go on about the unhelpfulness of this fellow, but I won't...

Anway, to make a long story a little less long, I'll just have you know that I called a tow truck (thanks, once again, Eaton Towing!), who will diagnose Handsome Rob first thing this morning. And I called Jami to come bail me out of trouble 25 miles down the freeway. (She is a saint. No, really.) Then we went to Jeff's place where he shared some fruit pizza from his birthday.

Then I came home and had a nice conversation with Mr. Merrill.

I'm still considering my predicament. My uncle Shawn called me last night. (He was one of the first people I called, as he is local, and he is family; but he, too, was unavailable at 6:02.) He offered to drive me down to Utah, as he and his family are headed that way this afternoon anyway. (I told you my family is fantastic. All of them.) So...I'm wondering if I'll wait and hitch a ride with Shawn & Co., or if I ought to just rent a car for the weekend.

And if I do rent a car, you can bet your sweet bippy that it will NOT be an Aveo. I refuse to drive that car ever again. No, no, if I rent a car, it'll be the Chrysler 300, because I know they have one. Of course, it being April Fools Day, that car is probably already rented out...

Anyway, positive thoughts on Handsome Rob's behalf would be fantastic. I've talked to a few guys, and the consensus is that, although it could be number of things, it's likely either the head gasket (expensive!), or it could be something to do with the thermostat (inexpensive!). I guess we'll find out here in a few hours.