in defense of the deutsche bahn, my most recent travel experience--and, incidently, my very first amtrak experience--was a complete disaster.
since my last car gave up the ghost on nick and alicia's trip back from chicago last fall, i've been without vehicle in the us of a. in ann arbor, that's not really a problem, just occasionally a minor inconvenience, but when my mom asked me if i wanted to borrow one of their cars for a bit, i'm not gonna lie, i jumped at the chance. (you try hauling 20 pounds of cat litter from the bus stop, and then we can talk!!) i also hadn't actually seen my family since getting home, since we all live all over the place. so we finally worked out a weekend when i didn't have to work, and my mom wasn't crazy busy, and i was going to take the train down and then bring the car back. sounds pretty simple, right??
well y'all should know better by now... first there was the amtrak fiasco. the train was late getting to ann arbor, so that was red flag #1. by the time we actually got into union station, we were almost an hour behind schedule, which wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but i had to take another train from there out to the suburbs, where my mom was picking me up. of course, i missed that train and had to wait about 50 minutes for the next one, finally getting home at 12:40. at least this time it was family who got to stay up late to pick me up.
then after a full day of photo-sharing, eating, shopping, more eating, and generally catching up and having fun with a variety of friends, i was on my way back from the city to my mom's house, when "my" car started to overheat. i'm sitting in stop-and-go traffic between the scene of an accident (SUV vs. compact car. ouch.) and a toll booth, and all of a sudden there's smoke wafting out from under the hood. not good. i panic. calmly. because that's what i do. the engine temperature gauge is planted firmly in the red "overheated" section. it's 12:30 in the morning, and i've got a good half hour to drive yet; i'm sure everyone at home is sleeping, so there's not much point in calling home. after all, if the car's going to blow up, it's going to blow up, right? there wasn't really anywhere to pull over, and really, what am _I_ going to be able to do about whatever's wrong anyway, so i keep inching towards the toll booth, hoping and praying i'll somehow make it home, steam (because it WAS steam and not smoke, i eventually figured out) still billowing ominously from the front end of my car. once i get past the toll booth, it's smooth sailing. traffic is flowing right along, and as soon as i got up to highway speed again, the engine cooled down and stopped steaming. i'm still unnerved, of course, but this is certainly an improvement. i make it home without further incident and inform my mom and her husband, who, oddly enough, WERE still up when i got home, that i'm a little concerned about the car and tell them what happened. dave says he'll take a look at it in the morning.
so i get ready to leave the next afternoon, after having discussed the whole car thing extensively. (we're not worried; everything looked alright, and i have a pretty good idea of what i need to do if this should occur again.) so i take off, and as i get stuck in some construction near another toll both, sure enough, same story. engine is freakin' hot, steaming a little. but it seems under control--not nearly as bad as the night before, at least. i call home and ask if i should stop and let it cool off, or just try to stick it out 'til i can get moving again. trying to stick it out seems like the best option, and assured that the car shouldn't explode or anything, i continue. and again, as soon as i'm through the toll plaza and the cars getting moving again, my car is fine. the engine returns to a normal temperature, and i'm like, ok, i can do this.
i drive maybe another half hour, and all of a sudden, trying to go up this slight incline, i've got no acceleration AND the engine's super-overheated again. awesome. so i aim for the approaching exit ramp, pretty much coasting along, try to turn at the light, and i've got nothing--i'm steering on the last bit of momentum, and it's fading fast. i manage to pull the car off to the side of the road before it shudders to a stop. awesome.
i'm shaking. and pissed as hell. (i KNEW this was going to happen. before any of this overheating nonsense even began, i had a feeling this car wasn't going to make it to michigan. i should have KNOWN better...) so i call home again. really just to vent. there wasn't a whole lot they could do about it from chicago.
so i'm telling dave what happened, and this kid's pulled up behind me and sticking his head in the window on the passenger's side, asking what the trouble is. i pop the hood and he takes a look. no clue. i'm still on the phone with dave, who, i think, was a little bit hoping the guy would know what was wrong and be able to help and a little bit nervous about some sketch guy trying to help. (it was kind of funny.) he couldn't get it to start, but offered me a ride and/or a cold beer--apparently, he had a cooler in his trunk. right, i thought, so by the time i get this thing going again, i'm too drunk to drive?? no thanks =) he was the first of many many many kind and concerned citizens who stopped to see if i needed help.
mom and dave decided to come up and see what they could do--but they wouldn't be there for another couple of hours. yes!!! hanging out by the side of the road!!! exactly how i wanted to spend my sunday afternoon. i walked down to a gas station not far from where my car was. and then walked back. i called everyone i could think of to call--hey, gotta use those weekend minutes, right? =) and chatted with the four different police officers who stopped to make sure i was ok. the next guy who stopped to help had me try to start it again--although i'd just tried myself after giving it some time to cool down, and it still wouldn't start. he said it wasn't getting fuel, which made sense, seeing as i hadn't been able to accelerate right before it freaked out. by this point, i'm pretty sure that whatever's wrong with it, it's not going to be something we can fix right away, so i called alicia, who borrowed a car from one of her co-workers and headed towards indiana. then i called my grandma, which was probably a mistake, because she was VERY concerned about me, a girl, sitting, gasp, ALONE, on the side of the road. i assured her, only nice helpful people had stopped to see if i was ok, and it was a pretty busy road, so i wasn't really worried. grandmas are funny. (really, the number of friendly folk--illinoisans, indiana residents, michiganians, even a couple of girls from texas--who stopped and wanted to make sure i was taken care of, and the kids i've seen giving up their seats on the bus to the elderly or less able-bodied, have almost restored my faith in humanity!)
so what seemed like a couple of YEARS later--there were actually two different cars that stopped, saying, we saw you sitting here a couple of hours ago, and you were still here on our way back from church, so we wanted to make sure you had someone coming or had called someone at least--my mom and dave showed up. dave poured a bunch of different colored liquids into various compartments under the hood and had me try to start it again. and again. and again. still no luck. we tried a few more things and finally ended up having the thing towed. then they drove me a ways into michigan, where we met up with alicia, who took me the rest of the way home. what should have been a 5 hour drive at most turned into a nine hour drama.
cars are the devil.
