cancer – day 532

Rubi died on Sunday. My fish were dead when I got home too. But, I’ll tell the story as optimistically as I can.

I was driving back from my parents’ place last weekend, towing my small pop-up camper with my Rubicon. I got caught in a snowstorm in Nevada, but had otherwise had an uneventful journey with Mizzou and Seoul.

I was 20 miles from home, just past Cool, when my engine light came on and the Jeep’s temperature went up into the red. Luckily there was actually room to get off the side of the road almost immediately, so I pulled off and shut down the engine.

Steam is billowing from under the hood, and I sat there a minute deciding what to do. It’s Sunday evening and I’m going to need a tow, not just to get Rubi to a Jeep place for repair, but also a tow to get my so-new-it-doesn’t-have-a-license-plate camper the rest of the way home.

Sigh.

So I’m sitting there, and this pickup pulls off the road behind me. But as quickly as I looked in the mirror to see who had stopped to help me so quickly, they pulled back into the road enough to get around me and took the turnoff right in front of me. So much for my heros, eh?

But at the same time a cute little old Euro wagon had pulled off on the other side of the road, and when the pickup truck went around me to turn the corner, the little Euro made a u-turn and pulled off in front of me, and a young couple got out. The girl had been driving, and asked “is there anything we can don to help you?”

Well, between the three of us we knew pretty much nothing about engines, but the guy said he’s blown out a water pump once and it looked like this, with the fluids all pouring out and all. So, I’m definitely stuck, the Jeep’s not going any further tonight.

So the couple, Tory and Arlie, had been on their way back from Georgetown to Sacramento after having spent the day with their grandfather and family up in Georgetown. They thought we should call their uncle, who is a volunteer with the fire department and knows everyone in town and who might know who could do a tow on a Sunday night. But, of course, this is just twenty miles shy of my place, and cell coverage is worse than sparse. So, after Arlie tried using the cell, they suggested that we drive back to Georgetown to their uncle’s house to see if he can help. How nice is this? So, I get in the back of the little Euro wagon and Tory drives back up the hill.

It was pretty funny how the family reacted when they realized who was at the door, sine Tory and Arlie had pretty much just left. And they introduced their new friend with the Jeep and camper trouble, and the whole family started discussing who to call for a tow and whether or not their uncle could tow the camper with his truck and brainstorming how to at least get me, the cats, and my gear home. So we all go back to the Jeep, Uncle Keith driving his pickup truck, and then we unloaded EVERYTHING from the Jeep and the two important bags from the camper and ALL the cat stuff and of course Mizzou and Seoul in their cat caddies. They were really well-behaved, even when Keith had to brake really suddenly for a squirrel or skunk or something and both cats went flying off the back seat and onto the floor, they didn’t meow. Seoul cried a little after I put them back on the seat, but she settled back down in a few seconds.

It was funny saying goodbye to Tory and Arlie, they had somehow become close friends with all the chatting during the driving back and forth, and they were really great people, so hugs were required all around. 🙂

And by the time I got home, Tory had added me to her friends on facebook and we’ve traded a couple awesome e-mails this week. What a surprising way to meet such stellar quality people.

And their uncle was just a superb fellow too. He likes music and his daughters sing and play the piano, and his wife is the organist at the Morman church in town, and I told him about Ruth’s music party out in Volcanoville. He’s also the chiropractor in town, and has been in Georgetown twenty years (did I already say that?). I really enjoyed talking with him.

So Keith got me home and we unloaded all my gear (a very full Jeep’s worth) and gosh, I was just unbelievably relieved to be home and have all my gear home safe.

Then I realized that I knew where my Jeep was but had no idea what road it was on or any kind of address to give the tow truck (once I FOUND a tow truck) in the morning. And I needed to be working full-bore that morning, no time for messing around with towing Jeeps and camper and driving all over. So, it’s 9PM Sunday after two VERY long days of driving, and I get in the Toyota and drive the twenty miles back to where the Jeep is, clocking the exact distance and writing down the name of the side road and the name of the neighborhood it led into and noticing the ranch across the road so that I can give the tow guy good directions in the morning.

At lunchtime on Monday I drove down and met the tow guy, and he loaded Rubi on a huge tow truck, took Rubi completely off the ground and strapped him down like a cat going in to surgery. It was an impressive rig. He towed Rubi to my Jeep place in Auburn and they called late in the day saying they were pretty sure it was the water pump and a belt but they were going to run some overnight pressure diagnostics to be sure and we would know in the morning.

So he calls me Tuesday morning and confirms it’s the water pump and a belt, and differential fluids were strangely off. Turns out that happens when a Jeep sits for long, and Rubi wasn’t driven for six months last year when I was in treatment. So, to fix up all that they needed two more days and two thousand dollars. I love my happy green off-roading Rubi, so of course I authorized him to do all the recommended work.

So NOW I have to find a ride to Auburn Thursday evening to pick up Rubi. I called Rose (who had hosted the music party at the beginning of summer), and she wanted to do it but three were all these complications because she had a very busy schedule that day and I needed to stay home and work as late as possible before leaving for Auburn. The her husband Eddie said he could take me anytime. He’s building their garage (storage shed?), and so he’s home all afternoon and can take a break at whatever time I need to go. How nice is that?

And so here again I had a very pleasant conversation with Eddie on the 45-minute drive to Auburn, he told me about his son living overseas and how while he was visiting his son his house in SoCal burned down and so when he got back he had no possessions and started his life over again, and it was interesting and enjoyable.

When we got to the dealership, he insisted on going in with me to make sure everything was set and I was definitely getting Rubi back and wouldn’t be stranded. He kind-of acted like he was my dad to the dealer guys, it was cute how they jumped to that conclusion.

Rubi felt just dreamy to driver after the repairs had been done. Man, I love that Jeep. He’s had an expensive year, but hey, who am I to complain about an expensive medical year?!?