DON'T STOP!!! - The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED! Part II

For those of you just joining us, this is a continuation of the post The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED!!!. You may want to read that first, to see how we got here.

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This had never happened to me before. Here I was alone, at night, stalled on the off-ramp, right in the middle of the freakin' lane, in a vehicle that refused to answer my pleas of "No No NOOOOO! Please don't do this to me! Not now! Not Here! Not tonight! Pleeeeaaaassseeee".

OK. What I wasn't going to do was panic. I had my cell phone. I could call Cass, try and figure out a plan while waiting for the cavalry, and hope nobody rammed into the back of me before they got there.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes - cause you know that always helps!- and gave it one more try. The engine turned over!

It wasn't really sure it wanted to go anywhere, but I thanked the fates that there was nothing coming and I gunned it, making a left off the ramp and onto the overpass.

I drove just fast enough to keep it going. 'Just make it to Cass's and figure it out from there' became my mantra.

Coffee? Forget it! I was worried that if I got into the drive-thru lane, I'd stall again. And there aren't many things scarier than a Tim Hortons drinker who can't get their fix!

I pulled off into the business park, and picked the first spot that I could simply turn in, around and out again, to get myself back onto the ramp and highway.

That part went smoothly, now, there was only one problem.

There was a stop sign ahead ...

I was only 10 min away from Cass's house. I had a concert I had waited almost a YEAR for, starting in just over 15hrs, dammit! I WASN'T breaking down here!

I reached the stop sign, checked to make sure there was nothing coming ... and coasted through it.

The minute I let off the gas, I could feel the truck start to lurch again.

I may not be a mechanic, but I knew that lurching meant stopping!

No Way! As long as it wasn't smoking anymore, I was taking it as far as I could! The gauge was showing still under halfway on the overheating mark, so I was 'going by the gauge' ...and the 'please please please prayer' lol.

I got back on the highway and a couple of minutes later, approached her exit.

And another stop sign.

Thankfully, there wasn't alot of traffic this time of night, and I coasted through that one too.

Perfect! Now I only had to get through two sets of lights, seven stop signs and make it past a Tim Hortons WITHOUT going in, before I safely reached her driveway.

Nooooo problem! Did I mention at the last stop sign, you turn up a huge hill? HUGE! Yeah. Come on Baby! You can do this!!!

And I did. I made it!

I only met oncoming traffic. Nobody who needed to turn at a stop sign, and no pedestrians who had to cross.

I DID however get some strange looks from the oncoming cars, who realized I wasn't coming to a complete stop.

I wasn't driving dangerously, I made sure there was nothing coming in the crossing directions, and if there had been, I definitely would have stopped.

No truck or concert is worth somebody else's life.

But, for whatever reason, the streets were fairly empty. That worked in my favour.

I pulled into her driveway, put it in park, turned the key and heaved a huge sigh.

It died with a THUNK!

I didn't care. Whatever happened now, I wasn't left alone to deal with it on the side of the highway!

I went in and once we got past the fact I arrived WITHOUT coffee, I told her of my adventure to get there.

We waited about an hour or so, thinking that had been enough time for whatever was wrong with the truck to now be out of it's system, (yeah right! lol) and then decided to see if we were going to make it home.

I turned the key with a 'here we go!'. It started on the first try!!! And hey! The noise was completely gone!

Alriiiiiight! We were makin' it home, and in LOTS of time for the concert as planned.

Hmmmm.... but what was that?

"The battery light is on" I said to Cass. "It wasn't on earlier."

I put it in reverse, and started out of the driveway. When the back tires hit the street, and it came time to turn the wheel, it wouldn't turn!

The power steering was GONE!

"Uh oh ... I can't turn the wheel ... CRAP! This isn't going to be GOOD .....!!!!!"

K