What a Morning

Happy belated St. Patty's and St. Joseph's days to you all.  My kids are Gaelic and Garlic so I feel like March 18th is their day to really shine, heritage-wise :)

The first day of Spring started out as a real doozy.  I left the house with the littles and started driving them to school.  Xander leaned over and said "Your van says to 'Check Charging System'".  Oh I know, I told him.  It's come on and gone off and Dad brought it to the mechanic but they couldn't see what was wrong because the message was gone.  He took it to Autozone and they checked the battery and said that was fine.  They think it must be a loose wire or something.

Spoiler alert - it was indeed NOT a loose wire.

I pulled into the back of their school for the drop-off line, and Xander hopped out from the front seat.  Declan couldn't get the sliding back door to open.  I tried to open it from my controls, and it still wouldn't open.  Then I noticed ALL the lights on the dashboard were on.  Of course, I started to get nervous, as now cars were pulling up behind me to drop off their kids.  I turned off my van to turn it back on, hoping that would reset the dashboard and allow the doors to slide open.

Spoiler alert - it indeed did NOT allow for that to happen.

Instead, it just wouldn't start up again.  So there I was holding up the car drop off line with Declan and Brendan trapped in the back seat and my van was dead.  I told the boys to hop out through the passenger door (thank goodness for skinny and limber kids) then got out and moved the traffic cones so the cars behind me could drive around me and out of the parking lot.  I put on my hazards, put my car in neutral, and a male teacher (and also Brendan's best friend's dad) pushed my van up out of the way a bit.  I asked him what I should do and he said "I don't know about cars.  I do know about sports though!" feeling like his man card was being questioned I'm sure.

Spoiler alert - it WAS indeed being questioned by this damsel in distress.

I was so frazzled guys, not gonna lie.  I needed to get to work but I really needed a not dead van.  The principal came out of the school, who is our goddaughter, Haley and she laughed at/with me about the situation while I called Phil to see what to do.  Phil was at morning Mass at his school and couldn't answer.  I got out my AAA card and started to call for a tow when I saw our friends' kids walking into the school.  Oh! thought I out loud, if Matt is dropping them off, he will know what to do!  Alas it was not Matt, but his wife, Liz, whom I thought would be as useless as me because I am apparently very sexist when it comes to car-related emergencies.  

Good old Liz pulled over and saw that I was getting out my jumper cables while a female teacher who knew how to jump the battery was pulling her car over to mine.  Liz said that she had a portable jump starter that she could use to jump my battery.  Then she and the female teacher got under my hood, moved some plastic covering that was in the way and jumped my battery.  My van started!  Thank you lovely ladies!!  

NOT damsels in distress

As luck would have it, Liz also happens to work for the same school system as I do and told me she needed to get gas, but that she could follow me if I needed anything.  I told her that I was going to drive it to the mechanic and Phil would meet me there and then drop me off at work.  Phil had called me right back after Mass ended and we made that plan.  During this commotion, another friend had pulled up to see if we needed help and my sister had walked out of the school (she's the school nurse) to see what was going on, so let's just say I had made a bit of a scene but was so thankful that I had so many friends willing to jump in and help. 

I started to drive away from the school and the embarrassment and chaos I had caused there.    This was the first time in my life that my car had just absolutely died and I felt like my soul died a little alongside it.

Spoiler alert - it was NOT the last time.

As I approached the lone stop sign in town, all of my dashboard lights came on again and the car felt like it was about to stall out.  I pulled into the gas station with a mechanic, parked and turned off my van.  I ran in to tell the attendant that my car had died and it needed to be checked out by the mechanic if possible.  He said "There's no mechanic here anymore, they moved to another location".  UGH!

Now my van wouldn't start again, so I quickly called Liz to see how close she was, and she said she was just finishing up getting gas down the street and would come pick me up and bring me to work.  I ran in to ask the attendant if I could leave my van there until I could get it towed later and he said "not a problem."  Liz pulled up and brought me to work and I was able to get in touch with Phil who called AAA to come tow my van to the actual mechanic we use.  

However, the AAA lady informed Phil that since the membership was under my name, I would need to be present.  We made a plan that he would pick me up after his workday ended, then drive me to the van, then call AAA and get towed.  Because we didn't want to stand around waiting for hours once back at the dead van, Phil decided to try and set up a tow for 3pm.  He put in all the info online and in the note section wrote to come at 3pm.  

Spoiler alert - AAA does NOT indeed make appointments.

Phil starts getting alerts on his phone that say "Good news!  A tow truck is on the way!" but it's only 9am and I'm now at work, not at the van.  So he calls AAA to explain the situation and the lady tells him to cancel the tow truck and wait until we are actually at the dead van.  

When Phil's workday ends, he picks me up and we head to the dead van 25 minutes away.  Phil had set up with AAA to meet us there, and they texted to say they got the request and would send an update on the tow truck arrival.  They did not send any update, but instead we got a text from the two truck driver saying he was there and we were still 7 minutes away.  

Spoiler alert - I did NOT indeed need to be present.  He did not ask for my AAA card or my license.

Thankfully he waited for us to arrive and asked me what had happened with the van, then said "It's the alternator."  We explained that we had brought it to the mechanic and Autozone, explained what was going on and both places didn't know what it was.  He said "Hondas give you a warning when the alternator is on it's way out.  The 'Check Charging System' light will flash on and off for awhile, and then once it comes on and stays on, you have about five minutes until your alternator is dead."  Um yeah that's exactly what happened.  How come a tow truck driver knew this so readily and our mechanic and the auto professional didn't??

I waved tata for now to my 2013 Honda Odyssey dream car and we are waiting to hear from the mechanic today, but I'm pretty sure that the spoiler alert is that it's indeed the alternator.  However if it's a really expensive fix, mama's going car shopping :)