(no subject)
I can't sleep. Guess I'll just elaborate on what happened.
So I leave around 9:30 to go to Standale and grab some Taco Bell or something. I was absolutely starving. I'm about almost halfway between Allendale and Standale when suddenly I hear this really loud noise so I turn the radio off and realize something is wrong, I need to pull off the road. So I do, I fumble to figure out how to turn my hazard lights on (somewhat tricky), then get out to check the tires. My problem tire (front passenger side) is fine, but I smell rubber... I check the back one and sure enough, it's flat. I freak. I've never had a flat before, nor have I ever changed one. I didn't even know if I had a spare in my trunk, or a jack.
I get back in a drive just a little ways to this side road off of Lake Michigan Drive. I park there and try to figure out what to do. I decide to turn around and try driving back, just extremely slowly (I know absolutely nothing about flat tires). Well, the little road is sort of a private road and it isn't plowed properly, so it's a sheet of ice and I finally get turned so I'm facing the direction I want to be facing and I'm not moving... the tires are just spinning on the ice.
By then I'm hysterical. I'm quite far from campus, in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get back. I get in the trunk and rip up the carpet and pull the spare out. There's no jack in there. I look in this little crate of car crap my dad put in there and find a box. Silently praying it's a jack, I open it to find that it is. It takes forever to get it out of the box, then I read the instructions for changing the tire on the huge panel that was between the carpet and the spare tire.
It tells me to take the cover thingy off the week so I'm tugging at it, it won't come off. I get the owner's manual out and it says I have to unscrew the nut thingies to get it off, so I grab the lever for the jack (also a thing to unscrew the nut things) and try to unscrew them. It takes forever, I'm freaking frustrated and crying. Finally I got so angry I just started smashing the car with the lever.
After a few more attempts, I got the first nut thing off. There were more holes than there were nuts, so I only had a few more to go, when I realized my hazards are blinking much slower than they were earlier and that the dome light in my car (it's pitch black out and that was my only source of light) was starting to get dim. I freak, knowing my battery is about to die, so I race back to the front of the car and try starting it.
Click click click click. It's dead. I gave up. What was the point in continuing to change the tire when I couldn't drive out of there anyway? I threw all the crap in the trunk, put the parking brake on, and wrote a little note to the people whose driveway I was halfway blocking.
Sorry my car is in your way... it has a flat and a dead battery. I'll be back to get it asap. 616 331 0404 if you need me -- Sabrina Clayton
I closed it in the back passenger door (closest to their driveway) so that they'd see it, grabbed the registration, and headed back to campus. I didn't realize how far away I was until I got up the first hill and saw the lights lining the campus property way in the distance. It made me cry even more.
An hour later, I made it to the lights. I was on the other side of the hill from lot D. There were tracks in the hill from people sledding down it and walking back up, so I tried to climb up it. It was unbelievably steep and I ended up having to use my hands. No gloves, just my hands plunging into the snow to find something to grip.
I got about halfway before I started sliding. In my cotton pants, I fell onto the snow and let myself slide the rest of the way down. I could barely breathe, I was so exhausted, but I had to keep going. Dozens of cars passed every minute, but I knew not a single one was going to stop to help me.
I kept walking and found a part where the hill is level, sort of behind a utility-type shed on campus's property, so I cut through the snow and made it to lot D. I trudged back to the dorm to find 2 disappointed messages from Bill. He was going to call before he came up, but because I didn't answer, he went to Jay's to hang out with the guys.
I called him but he didn't pick up, so I left a voicemail, trying not to sound like I had been crying. I called back a few minutes later and he picked up. I told him what happened and he said he'd come up. He told me to just go to sleep and he'll wake me up when he gets here.
He called back a little bit later to say he's going to wait until morning. He hadn't realized how late it was, and roads are terrible down there. Jay said he knows someone who can get him a new tire and rim for mega cheap, so he'll do that as soon as the shop opens in the morning and then head up.
I'm worried about my car sliding down the hill into the people's yard. That'll be real fun trying to get it out.
I hope they see my note and don't have it towed away. I really can't afford that.
I didn't get back to the dorm until about 11:30. Not including death and break-ups, tonight was seriously the worst night of my life.
I'm going to have a killer cold in the morning.
I guess I'm just lucky to have made it back alive.
So I leave around 9:30 to go to Standale and grab some Taco Bell or something. I was absolutely starving. I'm about almost halfway between Allendale and Standale when suddenly I hear this really loud noise so I turn the radio off and realize something is wrong, I need to pull off the road. So I do, I fumble to figure out how to turn my hazard lights on (somewhat tricky), then get out to check the tires. My problem tire (front passenger side) is fine, but I smell rubber... I check the back one and sure enough, it's flat. I freak. I've never had a flat before, nor have I ever changed one. I didn't even know if I had a spare in my trunk, or a jack.
I get back in a drive just a little ways to this side road off of Lake Michigan Drive. I park there and try to figure out what to do. I decide to turn around and try driving back, just extremely slowly (I know absolutely nothing about flat tires). Well, the little road is sort of a private road and it isn't plowed properly, so it's a sheet of ice and I finally get turned so I'm facing the direction I want to be facing and I'm not moving... the tires are just spinning on the ice.
By then I'm hysterical. I'm quite far from campus, in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get back. I get in the trunk and rip up the carpet and pull the spare out. There's no jack in there. I look in this little crate of car crap my dad put in there and find a box. Silently praying it's a jack, I open it to find that it is. It takes forever to get it out of the box, then I read the instructions for changing the tire on the huge panel that was between the carpet and the spare tire.
It tells me to take the cover thingy off the week so I'm tugging at it, it won't come off. I get the owner's manual out and it says I have to unscrew the nut thingies to get it off, so I grab the lever for the jack (also a thing to unscrew the nut things) and try to unscrew them. It takes forever, I'm freaking frustrated and crying. Finally I got so angry I just started smashing the car with the lever.
After a few more attempts, I got the first nut thing off. There were more holes than there were nuts, so I only had a few more to go, when I realized my hazards are blinking much slower than they were earlier and that the dome light in my car (it's pitch black out and that was my only source of light) was starting to get dim. I freak, knowing my battery is about to die, so I race back to the front of the car and try starting it.
Click click click click. It's dead. I gave up. What was the point in continuing to change the tire when I couldn't drive out of there anyway? I threw all the crap in the trunk, put the parking brake on, and wrote a little note to the people whose driveway I was halfway blocking.
Sorry my car is in your way... it has a flat and a dead battery. I'll be back to get it asap. 616 331 0404 if you need me -- Sabrina Clayton
I closed it in the back passenger door (closest to their driveway) so that they'd see it, grabbed the registration, and headed back to campus. I didn't realize how far away I was until I got up the first hill and saw the lights lining the campus property way in the distance. It made me cry even more.
An hour later, I made it to the lights. I was on the other side of the hill from lot D. There were tracks in the hill from people sledding down it and walking back up, so I tried to climb up it. It was unbelievably steep and I ended up having to use my hands. No gloves, just my hands plunging into the snow to find something to grip.
I got about halfway before I started sliding. In my cotton pants, I fell onto the snow and let myself slide the rest of the way down. I could barely breathe, I was so exhausted, but I had to keep going. Dozens of cars passed every minute, but I knew not a single one was going to stop to help me.
I kept walking and found a part where the hill is level, sort of behind a utility-type shed on campus's property, so I cut through the snow and made it to lot D. I trudged back to the dorm to find 2 disappointed messages from Bill. He was going to call before he came up, but because I didn't answer, he went to Jay's to hang out with the guys.
I called him but he didn't pick up, so I left a voicemail, trying not to sound like I had been crying. I called back a few minutes later and he picked up. I told him what happened and he said he'd come up. He told me to just go to sleep and he'll wake me up when he gets here.
He called back a little bit later to say he's going to wait until morning. He hadn't realized how late it was, and roads are terrible down there. Jay said he knows someone who can get him a new tire and rim for mega cheap, so he'll do that as soon as the shop opens in the morning and then head up.
I'm worried about my car sliding down the hill into the people's yard. That'll be real fun trying to get it out.
I hope they see my note and don't have it towed away. I really can't afford that.
I didn't get back to the dorm until about 11:30. Not including death and break-ups, tonight was seriously the worst night of my life.
I'm going to have a killer cold in the morning.
I guess I'm just lucky to have made it back alive.