New Orleans or bust?

...bust

As some of you know, I was suppossed to be on my way to New Orleans as of yesterday. The plan was to drive my car to San Marcos and meet some people there who I would then ride with to The Big Easy. Well the biggest possible hitch to that plan happened yesterday around 4:30m/5:30c. First, the oil light came on and started fading in and out, so I thought "When I hit the next town I'll stop somewhere and put some oil in or something". Next thing I know the car dies and slowly stops. Luckily tho, it stopped within less than a mile of a Border Patrol checkpoint close to Sierra Blanca. I check a few things and then decide to walk up to the station and see if they can help, still not knowing for sure what happened to my car.

As I'm walking up I call my family to let them know what's up, and then one of the officers comes out and asks what's up. I tell him and they bring me inside, give me some water (maybe I should have left in the morning?) and call Tony who owns a mechanic shop/tow service in Sierra Blanca. While I'm waiting, I update the people I was supposed to meet with and my family.

So, Tony comes and takes me and my car down to SB to see what the problem is. After a few minutes of checking the oil, the battery, and anything else surface level that could have caused the problem, he tell's me it's either the engine itself or something that carries the oil to the engine, but nothing for sure. He asks where I come from and says that if I can't find a friend or someone to come down and get my car and me he can tow me to El Paso...for about 250 bucks!

I don't have that much but I call my mom again and tell her, and she gives me a few suggestions on who to call. So I start calling around, even to Amanda who is currently up in Glorietta, NM for "Student Week" with the BSU to see if anyone up there knows of someone still in LC that can come get me and my car....no luck. And no luck with everyone else I had a number for. Of course, this all takes a few hours partly b/c cell phone service in SB is spotty and there were only like two or three spots with-in a 15-foot radius that had good enough service to call or text. By this time, I'm pretty frustrated and starting to worry that my options are either stay in SB overnight trying to figure something out or calling Tony back (he closed the shop for a few hours and also had to take care of his sick wife for a bit) and asking him to take me to El Paso. I chose the latter after consulting with my mom. They transferred the money and I called Tony and then a few friends in EP to see if 1) I could have the car towed to their house and/or 2)get a ride back to LC.

The only friend I could get a hold of was Lina (thanks, BTW if you're reading this!) but after a few back and forth games of call/text tag (bad service among other things) and a couple of changes of plan it's determined that I'll tow the car to the Casa Nissan service center and then she'll pick me up and take me back to LC (actually, Shaun...again, thanks!...was the one that came to get me, and then dropped me off at UTEP's Miner Village). Keep in mind tho that Tony doesn't get back til sometime after 9 or 10 because he's helping other motorists and such. Finally, about 10:30 we get the car hitched up to his truck and make the trek back to EP and everything works out fine. I leave a brief note in the car window to let the dealership know why this car is sitting in their parking lot and tell them to call me in the morning so I can get the keys to them and they can take a look at it.

So I get home sometime after midnight feeling pretty down that my trip was ruined, but thankfull for the Border Patrol, Tony, Lina, Shaun, my mom and sister. I send off a quick email to the head honchos of the Phi Sigma Pi (which is why I was going to NO in the first place) explaining what happend and asking what should be done since I was supposed to be the delegate for our chapter at the business part of the meeting, and then finally head off to bed. Thankfully I have until Monday off from work so I can get stuff done with the car and other things that I need to get done.

Fast forward to today. I take my sister's car (she got a ride with someone else to Student Week) down to the dealership to give them the keys. I notice tho, that the coolant temp is getting closer to the dangerous level so I take it easy on the gas and turn off the AC which helps a little. I don't worry to much and figure I'll just put some coolant in when I get to the dealership. After waiting for Mike (the guy I talked to there) to stop flirting with his girlfiriend, I finally get my keys to him and he says he'll call tomorrow to let me know if they found what was wrong. As I walk back to Amanda's car to try and put the coolant in. The cap was on tight and plus it felt a little hot, and since the sticker on the cap says not to remove when hot I decided to try again later when I get back or something after it's had time to cool down. I then notice that one of the tires looks pretty low, so I find a nearby gas station and put some air in. When I take the hose out I hear a hisssssss coming from from the tire and feel air coming out. At this point I'm feeling like I'm somehow bad luck with cars or something. I decide to take the car to Wal-Mart's tire center and see if there's something they can do, but by the time I get there I don't feel or hear the air coming out and the tire center looks pretty busy anyway. I still need to let the car cool down so I can get the cap off where the coolant goes so I wander around Wal-Mart for about an hour. I try the cap again and fianlly get it off and add the coolant. The tire still looks fine so I drive back to LC.

And that brings the story to now...Amanda's car is ok...for now, and my car...well, I'm still waiting hear about that. Either way there is no chance of me getting to New Orleans by tomorrow unless they can pay for me to fly out there or something. Bummer, I guess, but at least I'm safe and not stranded in the middle of nowhere...