Adventures in Destin

Wednesday night after work I set off on a journey that had twists and turns I wasn't expecting. We prepared my car for the journey with new brake pads, an oil change, a new battery and some fresh epoxy to hold the bumper on. No, really, the bumper has been hanging on for dear life for about a year now.

I arrived at my parents' house about 11pm and crashed. I left the next morning at 7am for my road trip (which isn't as much fun by yourself...even if you crank up the music and sing at the top of your lungs...it's still more fun with a car full of friends or the love of your life by your side). After a few hours on the road I had to "rest" and I was a only a few miles from EJ's aunt's work so I took a little detour to surprise her which was fun. About 30 minutes down the road it began raining and raining then it began to pour. I got a break in the storm long enough to pull over and get some Rain-X for Hagdalina(that's the name EJ gave my car). That stuff is like the difference between night and day...I hit another storm and didn't even have to use my wipers unless I was in town in stop-and-go traffic.

But anyway...I arrived safe and sound in Destin on Thursday afternoon for my friend Sarah's wedding on Saturday. We went to preschool through high school together playing softball and basketball. She recently moved to New Mexico so I don't get to see her very often. Friday, all the bridesmaids took the bride to get nails done and then we went out to eat before hitting the beach for a bit. Here's where the story gets a little interesting...

Sarah and I and two other bridesmaids were staying in a condo in Destin and then the groom's sister was staying with all of her family in a house in Navarre (about 45 minutes from Destin). We left the beach Friday afternoon and the four in Destin took showers then I took Kelly (the groom's sister) on to her house where the rehearsal dinner was so she could shower and change clothes before dinner. We were about 5-10 minutes away from Navarre driving with the windows down...
and I said "Do you hear that? It sounds like I've got a loose belt."
To which Kelly replied, "Yeah. Do you smell that?"
To which I replied, "Yeah. Smells like somethings burning."
To which we both replied, "OH MY GOSH!!!"
Smoke was billowing out from the hood. So I pulled the car over but when I tried to turn it was really hard to turn the wheel, so I thought 'Great! The power steering has gone out!' Oh, don't I wish it was that simple.

Apparently in our attempt to ready the car for it's journey we didn't think to check the radiator cap (like we would have ever thought the check that...geesh!) So the radiator cap (a $3 part at any auto parts store) was bad causing lots of terrible things to snowball under the hood of my car causing the engine to overheat to the point that the aluminum pistons in my engine melted and fused together. So I called EJ to emphasize how glad I was that he decided not to come on this trip with me (please hear the sarcasm in my voice!) But oh yeah...he was winning his football game...yay (please hear the lack of enthusiasm in my voice!). This was our conversation when he called me that night....
EJ "Hey! We won!"
Grace "Hey! My car died! Really, died! I'm leaving the piece of junk here! Do you wanna come down here and pick me up and come to the wedding tomorrow or do you wanna book me a flight home? I'm leaving the piece of junk down here seriously."
EJ "Wha..wha...wha...what!!!!!!????!!!!! What do you mean 'your car died'!? How dead?"
Grace "Dead! Breathed it's last! And by the way...never ever ever are you sending me on a trip by myself!"

Is it awful that I couldn't enjoy his win? I feel a little guilty about it now but just a little.
So I bought a duffle bag and cleaned out my car. My sweet friends are bringing all of the bags of junk I took down there and all of the junk from my car to me when they leave on Thursday. I'm mailing my title to them and they are taking it the salvage yard to pick up a check (that hopefully will cover my flight home.)

The flight home is another adventure in itself...I had a little encounter with Maurice at the ticket counter when he threw my ticket in the trash and told me he was putting me on standby. That was not a good decision for him after the weekend I'd had and after I was already stressed from my gate being changed from C to A to E to B at the Atlanta airport (good thing that have a tram)...but I won't get into the details of that story....I'll just tell you, Maurice lost and I made it home to my honey and cried on his shoulder as soon as I saw him then I think I was asleep in the car before we were officially out of the airport.

In the end, Sarah and Thomas were married and Hagdalina gave us all a memory that won't soon be forgotten.

The moral of the story:

The temperature gauge on your car that you think is a waste of dashboard space is just as important to watch as the gas gauge even though it doesn't move very often.