Thursday, January 19, 2012

I am Turtle. Hear me sigh.

We drove to Buda today. Again. To pick up the Turtle. $578 later, we pulled away, sending my brother-in-law off on his own. "No need for us to follow you," I said, "because I've set Maggie for your house, and she will find it -- no problem."  Right. Except she didn't. Somewhere on Highway 35, she got horribly confused and wanted us to turn left, but there was no place to turn left. About the third time she went squirrely on me, I asked R to turn her off, because she was making me crazy.  Among the choices of road available to me, I saw Highway 183 North, and I knew that 183 would eventually take me to the 1431, which would take me where I wanted to go -- so I followed my nose and sure enough, after some tense moments (maybe ninety of them), we got to the 1431, and from there I knew my way home. We had turned Maggie back on  just before that. She had finally figured out where she was, so she just nodded her little electronic head and sighed a sigh of relief.

There was just one problem -- no. Make that two problems. 

#1 - When I still wasn't sure what to do, way back on 35, I pulled over to the shoulder, intending to call my sister and get her to tell us which way to go. I looked in my purse, looked some more, and then remembered that my phone was plugged into the wall at home -- no use at all. So we looked at the maps. I found the 183 and confirmed that it would take us where we wanted to go. 

#2 - I turned the key, and instead of the sprightly sound of an engine just rarin' to go, we heard the exhausted grinding sound of a starter motor struggling to start the truck and encountering an unfortunate lack of communication with the engine. After a moment or two, the truck did start, and from then on the trip home was uneventful, but when we got here, we had to call Truck Ford and set up an appointment to take the Turtle back. Again. On Monday.

I am thoroughly sick of driving to Buda and back.

At least we will have the weekend to play. My sister won't have to work, so we'll be able to hang out, and we'll get to visit the rest of the family, who have apparently gotten over the flu that hit them just before we arrived. And we're going to go see The Iron Lady tomorrow.

Oh, and I forgot to put sunscreen on, this morning, so I got a bit of a burn on my left arm during the drive. That alone is enough to cheer me up. I hear we've chosen a good time not to be in the Pacific Northwest.

5 comments:

The Bug said...

Poor Turtle! Really I'd think that at that price she should have been completely well. Hope they figure it out this time!

Rachel Fox said...

The Iron Lady... like a lot of people here, I'm just not ready to face that. I might manage it when it gets to TV...
x

Sandra Leigh said...

We suspect that it's a starter solenoid problem, Dana, but I've decided not even to think about it until Monday. Sufficient unto the day, and all that.

Rachel -- you must understand that R has always had a crush on Margaret Thatcher, or so he says. Me, I always look forward to a Meryl Streep performance -- though the subject matter, in this case, isn't one that much appeals. Mostly, this is about an evening out with my sister!

RLM Cooper said...

Good grief, Sandra! Next time, just call me on your cell phone - I'll get on the computer and route out a map of where you are to where you want to go - and I'll just walk you through it. :)

Unknown said...

Best wishes to the Turtle for a speedy recovery, & hope you have a fine weekend with your sister. It's soggy up here in Portland--but apparently there was a lot of snow further north.

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