KoLers ROCK!
just had to make a post about the awesomeness of my fellow KoLers.
this past weekend was the philly meet, and i decided i MUST be there... so i packed my piercing gear and headed north. about an hour from home, alice's battery light came on. (yes, i named my car alice. wanna make something of it?) she started sputtering and acting wonky, so i pulled into an advanced auto parts and they ran some diagnostics and said that yes, the battery was bad, not holding a charge. plunk down 65 dollars for new battery, the man installs said battery and i am on my way. 4 hours later, battery light comes on again. she's not acting wonky or anything... yet. i get north of baltimore, however, and the radio wigs out again, then i lose all my lights, guages, everything. i manage to get onto the shoulder before she gives up the ghost. ok, so now i am 7 hours from home, 1.5 hours from philly. makes more sense to call people in philly to see if i can get some help, right? on the phone, calling like 6 to 10 different KoLers. we'll come get you, we'll see if we can find help, etc etc. so tealsac (i love you, sweetie) has a friend who is VERY close to where i am broken down, who brings me another battery. by this time, we're thinking the alternator must be bad, but if i made it 4 hours on the first battery, i should be able to at least make it an hour on the second one, get me closer to where someone would be able to come get me. which is exactly what happened. i pull off the highway when the guages go south again, and happen to find a repair place right there off the ramp. thing is, i'm in a strange place, in the dark, in what looks to be not the most inviting of neighborhoods... so i forgot to put a note on the car, or to get the name and phone number of the place where i am. i just walked down to the most lit up place i could see, a gas station, and called KoLers again. jelloboi and drunken_irishman to the rescue! they drove the 40 or so minutes south and picked up me and all the gear i'd need for the weekend. we locked the car and left it there. this being a friday night, i assumed the repair shop would not be open on saturday (ever find a mechanic open on the weekend when you really need one? NO!!)well, apparently this place was. only i didn't know it because i forgot to write the number down, reemmber? anyways, monday morning D_I drives me to the repair place. and my car is GONE! since they were open on saturday and had no contact info for me, the repair shop had it towed. to a place that was like, less than 2 miles down the road. 287 dollars for towing. 2 MILES!! another 370 dollars to put on another alternator, which they wouldn't guarantee because it was coming off a junker neon. they also wouldn't guarantee that the alternator was the problem to begin with. in other words, no diagnostics, they were just gonna put on the alternator, charge the battery, and send me on my way with the hopes that i made it 9 hours home. i could not justify spending almost 700 dollars and breaking down again on my way back, someplace without help. the towing company happily took 125 dollars to let me get the rest of my stuff out of the car, and i asked D_I if he would take my stuff and let me pick it up from him later, i was gonna gab a bus and head home. he wouldn't have any of that, he offered to drive me all the way home. now, understand, D_I lives north of philly. north carolina is 10 hours SOUTH of where he lives. this was an immense sacrifice, and an awesome thing for him to do. i don't know where i'd be without my friends. thanks to all of you. especially to you, D_I. send him lots of green beers, folks. he deserves them. while you're at it, send tealsac and jrllo lots of love, too. they took such good care of me. thanks, guys <3. and farewell, alice. you were a loyal companion for as long as i owned you, and you took more abuse than any 10 year old car should have had to.
this past weekend was the philly meet, and i decided i MUST be there... so i packed my piercing gear and headed north. about an hour from home, alice's battery light came on. (yes, i named my car alice. wanna make something of it?) she started sputtering and acting wonky, so i pulled into an advanced auto parts and they ran some diagnostics and said that yes, the battery was bad, not holding a charge. plunk down 65 dollars for new battery, the man installs said battery and i am on my way. 4 hours later, battery light comes on again. she's not acting wonky or anything... yet. i get north of baltimore, however, and the radio wigs out again, then i lose all my lights, guages, everything. i manage to get onto the shoulder before she gives up the ghost. ok, so now i am 7 hours from home, 1.5 hours from philly. makes more sense to call people in philly to see if i can get some help, right? on the phone, calling like 6 to 10 different KoLers. we'll come get you, we'll see if we can find help, etc etc. so tealsac (i love you, sweetie) has a friend who is VERY close to where i am broken down, who brings me another battery. by this time, we're thinking the alternator must be bad, but if i made it 4 hours on the first battery, i should be able to at least make it an hour on the second one, get me closer to where someone would be able to come get me. which is exactly what happened. i pull off the highway when the guages go south again, and happen to find a repair place right there off the ramp. thing is, i'm in a strange place, in the dark, in what looks to be not the most inviting of neighborhoods... so i forgot to put a note on the car, or to get the name and phone number of the place where i am. i just walked down to the most lit up place i could see, a gas station, and called KoLers again. jelloboi and drunken_irishman to the rescue! they drove the 40 or so minutes south and picked up me and all the gear i'd need for the weekend. we locked the car and left it there. this being a friday night, i assumed the repair shop would not be open on saturday (ever find a mechanic open on the weekend when you really need one? NO!!)well, apparently this place was. only i didn't know it because i forgot to write the number down, reemmber? anyways, monday morning D_I drives me to the repair place. and my car is GONE! since they were open on saturday and had no contact info for me, the repair shop had it towed. to a place that was like, less than 2 miles down the road. 287 dollars for towing. 2 MILES!! another 370 dollars to put on another alternator, which they wouldn't guarantee because it was coming off a junker neon. they also wouldn't guarantee that the alternator was the problem to begin with. in other words, no diagnostics, they were just gonna put on the alternator, charge the battery, and send me on my way with the hopes that i made it 9 hours home. i could not justify spending almost 700 dollars and breaking down again on my way back, someplace without help. the towing company happily took 125 dollars to let me get the rest of my stuff out of the car, and i asked D_I if he would take my stuff and let me pick it up from him later, i was gonna gab a bus and head home. he wouldn't have any of that, he offered to drive me all the way home. now, understand, D_I lives north of philly. north carolina is 10 hours SOUTH of where he lives. this was an immense sacrifice, and an awesome thing for him to do. i don't know where i'd be without my friends. thanks to all of you. especially to you, D_I. send him lots of green beers, folks. he deserves them. while you're at it, send tealsac and jrllo lots of love, too. they took such good care of me. thanks, guys <3. and farewell, alice. you were a loyal companion for as long as i owned you, and you took more abuse than any 10 year old car should have had to.