The Minivan

It is fixed, my ultimate Mama cruise mobile is ready to take the road once again.  Not that there were not a few bumps in the road getting there.  Napoleon (it's the minivan name, you will get over it) had been sitting in our driveway for I think 3 months with 38,000 miles on her. (yes Napoleon is a girl, you will get over that too) We have been driving the "other" car.  It is a trash heap with 172,000 miles on that when you turn it on sounds like it is going into a death rattle (trust me people I work at the hospital I know what that sounds like).  I have even taken to parking on a different level then I usually do just because I do not want people to know the car with all the trash, trailing smoke and rattling every time I turn it on is me.  Anyway back to the plight of Napoleon.  You must know that the windshield cracked, the brakes failed and the tire went flat all in the matter of a few weeks and you may remember a while back we were very short on cash...well yes this all would have occurred around the same time.  So we let the car sit, until Dubya sent us our stimulation check.

Getting it fixed though was a little strange.  We could not drive it because now the inspection was expired.  I called the garage to come and tow it.  This was Thursday and they told me that they would be around on Monday to pick it up...they do not do windshields.  Called the windshield guys and they said they could come on the following Thursday (weather permitting)....I waited all the following week for something to happen...anything.  No one showed.  I called the garage on Friday and she said that they would be out the following Monday....(deja vu) I called the glass guys and you guessed it they said that they would be there on Thursday. 

Monday morning the tow truck showed up in my driveway and I gleefully helped (they let me drive) get Napoleon onto the flatbed.  I had just gotten off a 12 hour shift so I duct taped my children to the television and headed to bed.  (for all you purist Mike really entertains them while I sleep and there really is no duct tape involved)  At 3pm I received a call from the glass guys they are on their way to fix my windshield...uhm no you are coming on Thursday...guess there was a change in plan, but the van is not here it is at the garage.  Windshield guy says he knows it is at the garage he already called them....what?   So anyway I called the garage and sho'enough they have all been talking to each other.  My only gripe being that they told the garage they would be there at noon (so the garage did not start on my car) and they did not show up until 3pm.  The lady at the garage was pretty sure that now because they were not be able to start they would not get to my car unti next week...great!!!

Tuesday around 1pm Chris is home from job#1 my phone starts ringing.  I look at the number and think it is familiar and realize it is the garage.  They are calling to tell me the van is ready...Woow!  Do any of the businesses have a sense of time?  I mean not that I am not grateful to have Napoleon back but ....has anyone heard of a real timeline.  Anyway, I beg to Chris to be a few minutes late to job#2 and we rush out the door small children in tow to pick up our beloved van, that has a/c and a Cd player and a DVD player...and a whole bunch of other amenities that are so nice to have with small kids.  I am so excited we drive around town , we get gas and we head home.  Mike comes out to help get his brothers out when we get home...he says "Mom, What is that awful smell?"  I am thinking new brake smell, glue from the window...don't know, don't care have van back.  Then I hear him "Mom, are the tires suppose to be smoking?"  "Smoking?"  I look and yup, one of my back tires is smoking...big, piles of black smoke.

I call the garage in hysterics sure that at any moment my van is going to do a movie style blow up in my driveway.  The lady at the garage calmly informs that I live close enough I can just drive it back.  I am not sure why in my hysteria I thought this was a good idea at least I had the thought to leave all children home. Right before I get off the phone the woman says "and you may not want to step on your breaks hard...or at all" I got back into the van...black smoke still pouring from the rear tire and drove it all the way back to the garage...over 5 miles, I watched the odometer.  I pull in certain that by now there are flames shooting out.  I get out and there is nothing...nothing...no smell, no black smoke.  Now I look like a crazy lady.  The mechanic comes out I explain it to him, he takes the van for a spin....nothing.  They put it up on the lift...nothing.  He decides that because I let the van sit so long that some piece (no I know nothing about cars/trucks/vans or SUVs) in my brakes rusted into place and because that was the first time I drove it all that I was doing was creating friction and bad smelling smoke.  He thinks that it must have worked its way loose while I was driving it back and that it should be ok.  (I feel so relieved, don't you?)  NO, NO, NO...tell me that is not going to happen again.  No mechanic will tell you that something will never happen. 

So here I am folks, I have my minivan back.  She is in the driveway and whenever I take her anywhere I have my review mirror cranked all the way down the side to see the tires.  So if you are at Hannafords and you see me pulling out of a spot, give me wide berth, I do not see you, I am checking my tires in the mirror and if my head is stuck out the window like a dog...I still am oblivious to the fact that you are there, I am just sniffing the air for foul smoke.

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