It was Monday June 21st, 2004. The longest day of this year 2004. I was driving east through Illinois and crossed into Indiana. I decided that instead of heading into Ohio and going south of Lake Erie, I would veer north, through Michigan and cross into Upstate NY via Niagara Falls. The best laid plans...........
About 6PM Eastern Time (Michigan is on Eastern time) I was about 15 miles into the State of Michigan, way down there in the SW corner. All of a sudden I heard the engine of my car clicking. I stepped on the gas and nothing happened. At this point, I knew that it was time for me to pull off to the side of the freeway and get some help. As I stopped the car, it started to smoke from the engine. Luckily, it stopped after about five minutes.
I called AAA and they sent a truck for me. I had found a Subaru dealership in Kalamazoo, MI, which was about 75 miles further east of where I was on I-94. In my great planning, I had purchased the AAA Plus membership, which gave the the right to be towed up to 100 miles at no charge. When Randy (of Randy's Auto Service) arrived about an hour and fifteen minutes later, I was still calm. In fact, I am quite proud of how calm I am still.
He told me that there was a Subaru dealership only 30 miles from where I broke down. The reason AAA didn't tell me over the phone is that this dealership was in Indiana. During my tow, Randy briefed me completely on the NASCAR race he went to the Saturday before and I now know all about a racer from South Bend, IN named Randy Newman. But, I digress.
I arrived at the Subaru dealership as it was closing. I packed a bag of things, pulled my bike off the top of the car and rode down the highway to the Motel 6. I was in for the night. This morning, I went back up and spent the majority of the day in the Subaru dealership.
There is good news and some bummer news. The good news first, how about that? The car, at the time of breakdown, had 58,800 miles and was just four years old. In addition, I had also had the 60,000 mile major checkup done on the car on June 4th, a mere three weeks ago. I brought all that paperwork with me. Turns out, there was either little or no coolant in the radiator and the engine overheated and burned up. Yup, it basically melted. The car has a 5 year, 60,000 mile warranty. And since I had all my maintenance records, I will pay NOTHING for the repairs. I'm basically getting a new engine built (essentially a new car) here in South Bend. We are all big fans of Mr. Stephen B. of Subaru of Michiana. He has been on my side the entire time and it took the better part of a day, but we are now on the road to getting my car back on the road. Because Stephen has to order parts, it will take a couple days to get to South Bend. I will pay for the expedited shipping as well as for a new timing belt. The parts will get here Thursday the 24th. (Happy Birthday, Mom!!). Hopefully, he and his mechanics can get me back on the road by Friday the 25th.
The bummer is that I will not get to see my friends Mike, Michelle and their new son, Ray, in Ithaca. I also will miss out on seeing my high school advisor Anne S. in Vermont. I will getting all the downtime, now, here in Indiana. It's going to be and Indiana summer, considering I'm going to be back 100 miles south of here in three weeks.
So, I'll check in with Stephen tomorrow morning and then rent a car and drive up to the resort areas around Saugatuck, MI, which is the Provincetown of the Midwest. I'll stay up there tomorrow night and then return sometime Thursday afternoon.
I am quite zen about this entire experience. I haven't gotten mad, there really is nothing to get mad about! Yes, I will admit, I did get a bit antsy today because I just wanted there to be answers and progress, but I was quite patient. In the end, I'm getting a new engine out of the experience and I get to see some of the sights around the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. I'm also biking all around the city of South Bend and thank god it's FLAT.
All in all, just part of the great crazy journey I have embarked on.
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