JFK'S BIRTHDAY BUT A MISERABLE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917, 107 years ago. Today, however, I am going to break with JFK+50 tradition and do a blog post about my experiences this Memorial Day Weekend. I have missed very few days since beginning this blog in December 2010, but just in case nobody noticed, I have missed the past four consecutive days, May 25-28. Some might have thought I passed on. Here is my story.
Like any good father, I want to please my daughter when I can. She along with husband & toddler scheduled a two-week trip and asked me to dog-sit their Frenchie, Cannoli. I not only agreed to do so, I said I would meet her in Roanoke, Virginia so she wouldn't have to drive all the way to Knoxville & then have to return immediately to D.C.
Everything went as planned until I started to return home with the dog Saturday around noon. About 20 miles out of Roanoke on I-81 South my 'check engine' light came on, the a/c went out, lost engine power & then I smelled rubber burning. At that point I pulled over to the side of the road up against a guard rail but inches from the passing traffic.
I called AAA & had my daughter come back for the dog. After a while, a VDOT man showed up & put flashing lights & cones up to protect my car. He filled the radiator with water & told me to try the ignition. It started up fine with the a/c working, so he advised me to drive it to the next exit 1 mile away.
My daughter & dog went back to our hotel in Roanoke & booked a night, so I tried to make it there too but shortly after getting back on the interstate I saw my engine temperature was stuck on HOT. I pulled over again, this time under an overpass in the shade & further away from passing traffic.
AAA towed me to the Mazda dealership in Salem & then dropped me off at our hotel. Mazda was not open Sunday or Monday, so I had to stay three nights in the hotel while my daughter went back to DC the next day.
On Tuesday afternoon I got a video from the Mazda tech. The engine had reached a temp of 302 degrees & it being aluminum I was advised the engine cannot be repaired.
This morning Enterprise picked me & the dog up at the hotel & took me to their office where a rental car was waiting. After a four hour drive we arrived back in Knoxville a couple of hours ago.
My Mazda CX7 has 150,000 miles on it and is 14 years old, so I should have known better than to risk this trip. I will return to Salem in a few weeks to work out a trade on a new lease.
While it all worked out in the end, it was rough going particularly not knowing what would happen next. Standing on the side of an interstate with vehicles passing 70 mph so close to you is not an experience I recommend.
JFK+50 NOTE
Since this was going to be an overnight trip, I decided not to take my computer so this is the reason I could not do any blog posts over the past four days.
