These last few days have been crazy. Packing, finding the last few things that I need, getting my mail held, giving away all my perishable foods, cleaning my apartment, THEN there was the Car Debacle yesterday.
That tale is as follows:
Oh yes. Long story forthcoming.
THE CAR DEBACLE
So Hannah (from now on known as Pixie) (my lil sis) needed to be driven to Idaho (4 hours away) where her next conservation-work session in the woods was starting. So I emailed her bf's aunt and uncle (who are in Romania currently) and asked if I could borrow one of their cars to take her. They said I could take their 1989 Subaru Justy but to be careful because they didn't know if it was really reliable or not, and the oil leaks.
No problem, thinks I, the oh so clever one. I'll just add coolant, and oil, and take some more with me, and all will be fine!
2 hours down the road (roughly 10am) and Pixie turns to me and says "Thanks SO much for driving m...." and trails off because suddenly the Justy makes a funny noise, like the gears aren't quite matching up anymore. Expert me on the stick shift lets off the gas and hits the clutch; noise quits. Release the clutch: AWFUL NOISE AND A BANG AND SMOKE APPEARS AND METAL FALLS OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE CAR! D:
At this point I'm rapidly slowing down from 75 miles per hour, hitting my hazard lights on, pulling off the freeway and putting the car in neutral. We examined the car cautiously because all the oil was pouring out of the bottom of the engine block and it was spattering everywhere and it was HOT. We deduced that the engine block exploded. Asploded. I like the sound of that better.
IT ASPLODED EVERYWHERE.
I called my cousin & his (eight months adorably pregnant) wife who, luckily, live about 30 minutes from where we were and explained (asplained ) the situation, including that Pixie REALLY needed to be in Weiser, ID in only about 2 hours and the car ASPLODED.
He, being awesome and stuff, got out of bed (because he works the night shift as a train engineer) and came and found us about an hour later, and towed the Justy back to his house and his (8 months adorably pregnant) wife followed him in another (stick shift) car which Pixie and I promptly moved into, along with Katie, who came along for the ride, and rapidly drove to Weiser. We took a wrong turn twice and lost a half hour each time, because we had only slept 3 hours last night. So even though I've been there repeatedly, I took wrong turns. :(
We got to the campground only TWO hours late! :clap Her bosses didn't care much because it had been an emergency. Then I had the worst time trying to leave her, because I absolutely adore the program she's doing (have done it twice before) and if my back hadn't gotten messed up, I'd be 2 weeks into a session of my own right now. So I ran off and drove away before I could start crying in front of 40+ strangers, and nearly fell asleep at the wheel during the 30 minute drive to the nearest food place, where I eated. Then I took another wrong turn, lost an hour, and turned on my German-learning CD's for half the way back to my cousin's house.
Where my mom came with a dolly and gave me a ride back home along with the (most likely totaled) car.
I emailed the owners of the car (who are in Romania, recall) but no response yet. I'll see them on Weds in South Africa, and am a bit nervous. :look Even though it's not my fault that the car committed suicide.
So that was my day on Sunday. Quite stressful, and I barely got back in time to go take care of the livestock that some friends asked me to take care of while they were gone to the Oregon Campmeeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since last (maudlin) post I have raised (to my best estimate) roughly a quarter of the total amount that I need. Ergo: $500 out of $2,000 so far. It may be a bit higher or lower than that, but at least I have some of it.
I found out a few days ago that I don't have to have quite all of it raised before leaving; the amount I have may carry me through, but OAMC is dead broke right now and as much as I can raise will be gratefully accepted.
So thank you so, so, so much everyone who has already donated, prayed for me, and spread the word around; it is forever appreciated.
For everyone else: CHALLENGE.
I dare you to convince 5 friends to donate $10 each, and you yourself toss $10 in. Put it all in a check and make it payable to "OAMC. Then you can send it to:
OAMC
5575 Fruitvale RD NE
Salem, OR 97317-3334
with a little note that says "The OAMC member who asked me to make this donation is Sarah Herbert."
Seriously, it wouldn't take more than an hour of your time, it can go in over anytime in the next few months, and every single dollar raised counts tremendously.
That tale is as follows:
Oh yes. Long story forthcoming.
THE CAR DEBACLE
So Hannah (from now on known as Pixie) (my lil sis) needed to be driven to Idaho (4 hours away) where her next conservation-work session in the woods was starting. So I emailed her bf's aunt and uncle (who are in Romania currently) and asked if I could borrow one of their cars to take her. They said I could take their 1989 Subaru Justy but to be careful because they didn't know if it was really reliable or not, and the oil leaks.
No problem, thinks I, the oh so clever one. I'll just add coolant, and oil, and take some more with me, and all will be fine!
2 hours down the road (roughly 10am) and Pixie turns to me and says "Thanks SO much for driving m...." and trails off because suddenly the Justy makes a funny noise, like the gears aren't quite matching up anymore. Expert me on the stick shift lets off the gas and hits the clutch; noise quits. Release the clutch: AWFUL NOISE AND A BANG AND SMOKE APPEARS AND METAL FALLS OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE CAR! D:
At this point I'm rapidly slowing down from 75 miles per hour, hitting my hazard lights on, pulling off the freeway and putting the car in neutral. We examined the car cautiously because all the oil was pouring out of the bottom of the engine block and it was spattering everywhere and it was HOT. We deduced that the engine block exploded. Asploded. I like the sound of that better.
IT ASPLODED EVERYWHERE.
I called my cousin & his (eight months adorably pregnant) wife who, luckily, live about 30 minutes from where we were and explained (asplained ) the situation, including that Pixie REALLY needed to be in Weiser, ID in only about 2 hours and the car ASPLODED.
He, being awesome and stuff, got out of bed (because he works the night shift as a train engineer) and came and found us about an hour later, and towed the Justy back to his house and his (8 months adorably pregnant) wife followed him in another (stick shift) car which Pixie and I promptly moved into, along with Katie, who came along for the ride, and rapidly drove to Weiser. We took a wrong turn twice and lost a half hour each time, because we had only slept 3 hours last night. So even though I've been there repeatedly, I took wrong turns. :(
We got to the campground only TWO hours late! :clap Her bosses didn't care much because it had been an emergency. Then I had the worst time trying to leave her, because I absolutely adore the program she's doing (have done it twice before) and if my back hadn't gotten messed up, I'd be 2 weeks into a session of my own right now. So I ran off and drove away before I could start crying in front of 40+ strangers, and nearly fell asleep at the wheel during the 30 minute drive to the nearest food place, where I eated. Then I took another wrong turn, lost an hour, and turned on my German-learning CD's for half the way back to my cousin's house.
Where my mom came with a dolly and gave me a ride back home along with the (most likely totaled) car.
I emailed the owners of the car (who are in Romania, recall) but no response yet. I'll see them on Weds in South Africa, and am a bit nervous. :look Even though it's not my fault that the car committed suicide.
So that was my day on Sunday. Quite stressful, and I barely got back in time to go take care of the livestock that some friends asked me to take care of while they were gone to the Oregon Campmeeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since last (maudlin) post I have raised (to my best estimate) roughly a quarter of the total amount that I need. Ergo: $500 out of $2,000 so far. It may be a bit higher or lower than that, but at least I have some of it.
I found out a few days ago that I don't have to have quite all of it raised before leaving; the amount I have may carry me through, but OAMC is dead broke right now and as much as I can raise will be gratefully accepted.
So thank you so, so, so much everyone who has already donated, prayed for me, and spread the word around; it is forever appreciated.
For everyone else: CHALLENGE.
I dare you to convince 5 friends to donate $10 each, and you yourself toss $10 in. Put it all in a check and make it payable to "OAMC. Then you can send it to:
OAMC
5575 Fruitvale RD NE
Salem, OR 97317-3334
with a little note that says "The OAMC member who asked me to make this donation is Sarah Herbert."
Seriously, it wouldn't take more than an hour of your time, it can go in over anytime in the next few months, and every single dollar raised counts tremendously.
So, there is now a way for you to make credit card donations online, and that is probably the easiest and fastest way to make a donation. Here is the link for the instructions:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oamc.org/PayOnline.pdf
And here is the link to the page where you can make the donation:
https://www.wallawalla.edu/epayment/index.php/payment/