Car Trouble

It's been an interesting month with vehicles. For quite a while we've been driving back and forth, coming and going as we please, and generally taking little concern as to whether or not we will be able to get where we want to go when we want to go there. Things have changed.

We gained four household members immediately following Thanksgiving. Nate and his family, and Josiah. Nate and Sabrina have their own vehicle. Joe arrived carless. Nathan rises early while the rest of us are in deep slumber and is off to work even before his dad is up. Sabrina goes to work a few evenings each week. Joe works here in town.

Joe's been trying to buy a car, but the lien release was slow in coming so we've been sharing my van. A little tricky sometimes, but so far do-able. This week Nate blew a tire (it's fixed), and he's having alternator issues. This morning he used my van to get to his job, and this evening Sabrina has it. (We're hoping they can get their alternator fixed Monday when Nate has a day off...)

The Cabinet Maker and I went out this morning and while running errands, stopped at Costco. We parked far out in the parking lot, wandered around inside, made our purchases, and headed out to his van. Next to our van was parked a rather large tow truck. The Cabinet Maker put the things in the back of his van and I, being cold since the weather changed, hopped into the front. On opening the door I was pleasantly surprised by a rush of warm air, and then I noticed the driver's side window was open. "Strange..." I thought. "I wonder if that has anything to do with the tow truck parked next to us?"

I leaned forward and looked out the window at the driver of the tow truck, all the while realizing the van was running and the radio was on. "Is this the vehicle being towed?" asked the Tow Truck Driver. I, speechless at the moment, glanced back at the Cabinet Maker who was totally oblivious to the transpiring situation.

"And what is this?" I found myself thinking... The lap and shoulder belt on the driver's side were wrapped around the steering wheel, twisted several times, and fastened into the seat belt clip... Apparently someone needed a tow truck for their Chevy Express Van.

"Paul" told them the key would be in the cup holder... but to wait for him to come out of the store. Um, we have a Ford Econoline Van... with a key in the cup holder... Kind of scary to think that we could have come out and found ourselves stranded at Costco. Ha ha! And kind of funny at the same time (but not really). We almost had to ride home with Nate. Oh, goodness! We won't be leaving the key in the cup holder again. And I'm slightly suspicious about a tow truck driver who doesn't know the difference between a Ford and a Chevy.