MAR 3, 25 .. DUM DEE DUM DUM .. CAR (or TRUCK) PROBLEMS.

This past Saturday evening, at 9pm closing time, Patti and I bought a Footlong Tuna Sandwich at our local Subway Sandwich Shop.

As I eased (I never ever back up suddenly or quickly) away from our parking place "I heard a noise" and I felt something was wrong with Black Beauty our truck.

I could barely turn the steering wheel. "Uh Oh!" I thought.

So I popped open the hood and my worse suspicions were true. The long serpentine belt that powers the alternator, power brakes, air conditioner and steering had "malfunctioned".

No! The serpentine belt was NOT broken. It was intact but flapping loosely as I moved it around. Well, thank goodness, I was able to drive very slowly to our apartment only 4/10th of a mile away with little to no traffic at 9pm. I carefully parked Black Beauty so a Tow Truck could easily load him come Monday (today) morning.

At 8:30am this morning, I called our local Chevrolet Dealer, spoke with a service advisor and explained the problem. He said "Bring it in when you are able. Please call me when your tow truck has him loaded so I can make sure the tow truck has a place to unload him. I don't like to have them wait a long time."

Thank goodness I have an account with them having used their services previously.

Here we go!

I was texted that the tow truck would arrive between 45 and 75 minutes. So I set out breakfast. Five (5) minutes later my phone rang. It was the tow truck out front!

Jerry was the driver. Thirty years as a Tow Truck operator here in Lake Havasu. Great man. Outstanding professional.

Lakeside Towing.

Out and off for Bradley Chevrolet Jerry and I headed.

There you have it! Black Beauty is safe and sound. We both are very happy he is here at Bradley Chevrolet.

 Parts had to be ordered from Phoenix and are "due" here Wednesday. We hope to "have wheels again" sometime Thursday. It looks to be "around" $1,000 with some "other work I have ordered to be accomplished. 

I.. Am.. Relieved.. To.. Have.. This.. Latest.. Drama.. finished. 

Cap and Patti

MAY 2, 23 .. WENDY'S FOR FROSTY'S .. CALL ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE .. OUR CAR WON'T START

If you get bored, and you may, reading this Post and looking at a lot of similar photos, I ask you to PLEASE scroll down to the bottom and read of my God touch experience with my deaf Lyft driver, Dethsakda.

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Titles to Posts can, in and of themselves, be a challenge.

"When Does It Get Easy" would work here. As would others. But I can't spend too much time on a title.

Patti and I had plans today. And our plans went very well until..

Our day began with the two of us "Chairing" a noon meeting here at the "Dry Dock" in Anchorage that really went well. Patti had a dental appointment that really went well. We delivered various items to our local Recycling Center. We did some shopping getting some important items we could not find at our local supermarket. 

We were on our way home and decided to stop at our local Wendy's to bring home eight Junior Frosty's. 

I got the Frosty's and.. 

and..

Our Suburban would not start. When I turned the ignition key nothing, absolutely nothing, happened. No clicking, nothing.

The head lights went on so the batteries (I have two batteries) are fine. The gas tank was full so we were not out of gas.

"Patti, it's the starter motor." 

We called a taxi and Patti went home with our groceries and our eight fresh (but melting) Frosty's.

In the meantime, my smart phone malfunctioned. So I used Patti's smart phone. When Patti got home she had our other two smart phones at her disposal. Then (go figure) my smart phone began to function properly and I called my Roadside Assistance program, (this took about 30 minutes which really is fast all things considered), and here came my Tow Truck.

Lights, Camera, Action!

We are ready to go to Moore and Sons Automotive on Dimond Blvd, our service center since 1994.

Our driver was absolutely outstanding in all aspects. An immigrant from Yugoslavia, he has been here 13 years. He was very pleased when I gave him a $20 gratuity!

As we pulled out of Wendy's, I looked back through the rear window of the tow truck and there he was, our Suburban!

All the way to Moore and Sons, I kept looking in my right, rear view mirror, to be sure our Suburban was still with us! Richardson (his middle name) are you still back there?

South down the Seward Highway we rolled.

Moore and Sons Automotive.

Are you still with us Richardson? Yes Dad!

Dad! I AM still here!

The tow truck driver was amazed when Don, the shop foreman, told him to unload Richardson right into a stall!

"Wow! Who do you know?"

Inside the lobby at Moore and Sons.

And now.. 

God deeply touched my very soul!

The Rest Of The Story.

My Roadside Assistance Plan provided me with a free ride from Moore and Sons back to our Condo with Lyft.

Lyft texted me this message : 

Your Lyft driver is deaf or hard of hearing. Please text instead of calling. 

Then their link gave some instructions on how to greet a deaf person.

I hope that all of you reading this will click onto the Lyft link .. https://lft.to/2J4C8K4 .. it will give you instructions on how to say "Hello" or "Thank You" in American Sign language.

Dethsakda was his name. I have some experience (I tutored a deaf student in mathematics back in 1964) working with the deaf. 

He "said" please call me "D".

Let me tell you, "D" and I bonded!

"D" is an immigrant from Albania as was? Mother Teresa, with whom I worked in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Patti also met Mother Teresa during her visit to Calcutta in 1996.

When we got to our Condo, I called Patti and she met "D".

Yep! I am just a little "teary".

Thanks God for this "divine touch".

Cap and Patti

JUN 19, 20 .. THE PERFECT DAY ? WHEN DOES IT GET EASY ? WE NEVER EVER KNOW WHAT'S NEXT !

Here was the script for my very-easy-duty day.

Check our mail at the Post Office.
Go to the bank.
Go to Walmart.
Go to Wendy's to purchase Frostys.
Return to our Condo.

Check our mail at the Post Office.

A 'snap'. In and out. Now off to the bank.

Go to the bank.

I had an appointment. I was on-time. The bank staff met me at the door. Done-deal. Clean and easy.

Go to Walmart.

I had my shopping list. You have to give credit where credit is due! Sometimes (often?) I forget it! I had my Covid-19 face mask. Walmart had each and every item on my shopping list.

Go to Wendy's to get Frostys to take-home.

Out of Walmart I motored. Turned right and then left and was in the Wendy's drive-up-window line in a few minutes. 

What could possibly go-wrong sitting in Wendy's drive-up-window line?

There was a line. Four cars ahead of me. It was early afternoon so there were already several cars behind me. I do NOT like to sit in any drive-up-window lines with my motor running so I turned the ignition off. I like to let the cars ahead of me move up a space or two before I restart my engine and close-the-gap.

Beautiful sunny perfect day. The cars ahead of me had moved up two spaces so I started my engine.

WE NEVER EVER KNOW WHAT'S NEXT !!

We think we know what's coming. 

The engine WOULD NOT START. 

To avoid this issue, I have two, heavy duty, top-of-the-line, quality batteries under-the-hood of my truck. The engine would not start.

I got out of my truck. I walked up to the drive-up-window and told them I was in line and, because my truck would not start, I was blocking the customers behind me. Almost instantly they had two employees at my side and we walked back to my truck.  Several men in vehicles behind me jumped out to assist. The crew pushed me through the Wendy's drive-up-window roadway, out into one of Anchorage's busiest streets (the New Seward Highway between Benson and Northern Lights), and into the Tesoro Service Station next to Wendy's. 

I called Patti. Patti called our roadside assistance hotline. They called me and got the details of my location (where I was) and where I wanted to have my truck taken. The tow company called me and asked me to be sure my service dealer would accept my truck. Thirty or so minutes later up pulled the road service truck. A real professional, he confirmed where I wanted to go, and loaded my truck onto his rig.

Out and off we went. 

I told you that this is one of Anchorage's busiest streets and I wasn't kidding you!

Here we are at my Service Center. We've been doing business here for twenty six years.

Five days (without our 'wheels') and $1,250 dollars later all is well. Our truck had major electrical charging system issues along with some other (non related to the truck not starting) important items that needed to be corrected.

We're all (Patti and I and Mister R. Richardson Richtoffen our truck) happy that he is home again.

We really think we know what's coming next in this life don't we? 

Snap-your-fingers and something like this happens.

But as I just wrote, all is well and all is swell. We had plenty of food and other necessities stocked up in our Condo and we just relaxed our way through this (call it) minor road bump in life.

Smiling ..

Cap and Patti who is enjoying her magnificent flower creations!