Aaaah, the forces of nature

Were out to get me...

Last week I went out to go to Lehi for school meetings. My clutch didn't work. After I got back with Mike's car (and thankfully Mike didn't need to go anywhere that day), and some online research, we decided my clutch was broken. There were three possibilities of the problem. Two were relatively cheap and one involved taking the transmission out (= expensive). My chances were good, but then remembered I have a Chevy Cavalier.

We got the car towed to Pep Boys that same day and were told we wouldn't get the estimate/diagnosis until the next day. We went home to enjoy the rest of our night...or so we thought.

At around 11 we get a call from my brother Dan in St George that Jeremy had lost all power in his truck while he was heading out camping--he had made it just a little ways past Heber (which is about 20 miles from Orem). We're not exactly sure why we got the call from Dan rather than Jeremy. We think that Jeremy called our dad and Dad thought Heber was closer to Dan than it was to us... I need to teach him a little geography. My dad has Mike and I go get a battery and take it to Jeremy. He barely makes it home without losing power again (i.e. battery was not the solution) and Mike and I roll into the driveway about 2 am. Ouch.

All this time we were helping Jeremy, my dad is driving through the desert on his way to St George--just to visit and pick up my mom (she was still there from the funeral helping everyone). We were just a little worried the forces of nature would attack him too and his circumstances were not looking good: he was driving a beat-up OLD camaro through the desert, at night so he could keep the engine as cool as possible. Also, his cell battery was draining from him being on the phone and he didn't have a car charger.

Anywho, it was a little funny that we all showed up at Pep Boys at the same time to check our cars. (My mom and dad ended up driving up to Orem for the day to see if there was anything my dad could fix without having to take it to a mechanic. Of course there wasn't.) And, of course, my car was diagnosed with the third, expensive, problem...

What did the Heckaman's do to deserve this. BOTH cars breaking down on the SAME day?

A plug for Pep Boys: they weren't the cheapest, but they price match. We took in a quote and they said giving it to us cheaper would be no problem. We ended up paying almost $200 less than originally estimated. Nice!