Stranded

Oh my god I actually have TONS to write about, but it all has to wait while I share the complete horror of the fact that I am currently stranded in The Dalles, Oregon at a Motel 6 awaiting a new "cam sensor" for my car. My car (5 years old, less than 30,000 miles) decided it had had enough of this whole "moving forward when the gas pedal is pressed" business this afternoon. On the interstate. On a shoulderless bridge on the interstate. While I was travelling 70 miles an hour. Here's what I was thinking: "OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE!" and "Why did I spend all day yesterday talking about how much I needed a 4-wheel drive, the car obviously heard me and this is it's punishment for not appreciating it enough. I LOVE YOU CAR!"

Luckily a bunch of little things went right to balance out the incredibly awful wrongness of my beloved and until now exceedingly trustworthy car ceasing to function. For instance, even though there was no shoulder when the power went out, I was able to coast to a place with a shoulder. My stepdad bought me a AAA membership for Christmas and I'd actually remembered to put the card in my wallet before driving across a really big western state. In the 300 miles of nowhere my car crossed today, I'd guess about 200 miles were without cell phone reception but my car died in a coverage zone. Oh, and the "cam sensor" is covered by a recall so the repair is free (except for the $50 I'm paying to have a roof over my head tonight). I'm still a little shaky. The car not working wasn't nearly as scary as sitting in the car on a very narrow shoulder as semis zoomed around a corner while I waited for the tow truck.