I’ve been in Columbus over a year now, and I have yet to find a mechanic in Columbus.
I’ve been blessed that Luci’s a pretty reliable gal. So long as I change her oil and give her some Heet in with her gas in the winter, she serves me well.
But even the best of cars occasionally develops a cough.
Luci just happened to develop her cough last week on her way to Grand Island.
When the steering wheel started wobbling and the car started shaking, my first thought was potholes (and then I thought “What potholes? I haven’t encountered any of those yet.”) My second thought was tires.
I had new tires put on Luci a couple months back while I was in Lincoln for the day–is there some sort of “bolts start getting loose” thing after buying new tires? I know that my bike mechanic told me to get my bicycle all tightened down after I put 50 or a 100 miles on it. Maybe cars are the same.
The maintenance man at work thought that was a reasonable scenario. I should get Luci’s wheels rotated and aligned.
So I did.
Then I drove back in the fog, unsure of whether she’d been fixed since my fog-driving (especially with the people that I had in front of me) was much different than my ordinary-clear-day driving.
Next day, I knew that it had not fixed it. But I didn’t have a mechanic in Columbus, and I was on-call to the degree that I didn’t feel I could just leave my car somewhere. I needed to be able to jump in my car and head to Grand Island at the drop of a hat.
So I didn’t get it fixed right off.
Monday night, it got worse and I decided that I would have to find Luci a mechanic in town whether my schedule liked it or not.
Then I went to Grand Island.
As I pulled into the parking lot, my brakes weren’t as smooth as normal–and I started to smell something burning.
Luci needed the emergency room. No more limping around. She needed a man immediately.
My dietary manager set up the meeting and we dropped Luci off with Kim.
Kim fixed her up right away. He was honest, fast, and affordable. He let me know exactly what the repairs would cost and even showed me the parts he replaced so I could see that he wasn’t just making up the need for replacement.
Luci’s found her man–but, once again, not in Columbus.
Geez–even my car figures she’ll have better luck elsewhere.
:-)