My girlfriend and I have been planning a trip to Disneyland all summer. Between our busy schedules, and my trip to Mexico, we hadn't been able to find a date that worked for both of us. About 3 weeks ago we finally decided to take our trip from the 22nd through the 24th. We took the time off work, booked a hotel room, tuned up the car, and got everything ready for our big trip.
Yesterday, I packed up the car, picked her up when she got off work, and we hit the road. Traffic was kind of shitty, as it generally is on I-5, but it was bearable because the next day we would be in Disneyland.
Or so we thought.
Some 200 miles down I-5 my car started feeling sluggish. I tried accelerating, but nothing happened. I pulled over, thinking it might just need to be restarted, but nothing happened when I turned the key. The engine turned and would start momentarily before shutting off again.
Great. We're on the side of the road in the middle of Bumfuck NOWHERE, no buildings anywhere in sight, and I have no idea what's wrong with my car.
My girlfriend called her ***, who's a mechanic in Texas, and described the symptoms. He said it sounded like ky fuel pump might be clogged. He suggested calling a tow truck and having a mechanic take a look at it.
Which was another problem in and of itself because my phone was having reception problems and couldn't get a steady internet connection to Google a tow service, and her phone doesn't have internet service.
I called my *** and explained our dilemma. He offered to look online, and he did, but the numbers he found were for Bakersfield, which was about 70 miles away. Every place I called told me to go fuck myself because they don't travel that far.
After making a bunch of calls I was able to find out that we were about 20 miles south of some hellhole called Kettleman City. I was able to get a steady internet connection long enough to find the numbers for 3 towing companies in the aforementioned hellhole. The first one was just an auto parts store. The second one told me to fuck off because they only do big rig trucks, and the third one said they could get us, but that it would take a while because they were really backed up at the moment.
My girlfriend and I waited for the tow truck for 3 fucking hours, and no truck came. When the sun started setting we called the towing place to find out what was going on. They said they would be another 2 hours, or we could call another towing company, which we did.
An hour later we were finally picked up by the tow truck and taken back to Kettleman City. The car was dropped off at a service station, and we were left to fend for ourselves in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Luckily there is a Best Western nearby, so we had a place to *****, but they charged an arm and a fucking leg. $95 bucks a night, to be exact. That's what a hotel in downtown San Francisco! That's for a night in a shitty motel in a hellhole in the middle of nowhere.
This morning we got to the repair station, only to find that the mechanic was at another shop 37 miles away, and that he wouldn't be there for another 2 hours.
When he finally arrived it took him 15 minutes to diagnose it as a faulty fuel pump. He explained that it wasn't a hard fix, but that none of the auto parts stores in the area had it. He said that he would have to hire someone to drive to Fresno to pick up the part, but that it's a 110 miles one way, so they would charge me an extra $140 bucks on top of the $719 that the repair would cost.
So we're currently sitting in the shop, waiting for the guy to come back from Fresno with the fuel pump. We've been sitting in the lobby for the past 7 hours now. We tried walking around for a bit, but the only things around here are the shop where we're sitting, the motel where we stayed, 5 gas stations, and 9 fast food restaurants. There are no other buildings as far as the eye can see. We're literally in a shithole on the middle of nowhere. Its name is Kettleman City.
So, yeah, that's been our much-anticipated trip to Disneyland. Hopefully the guy gets back before too much longer so we can start the 200-mile trip back home before it's TOO late. All I can say is that this trip has sucked balls.
Yesterday, I packed up the car, picked her up when she got off work, and we hit the road. Traffic was kind of shitty, as it generally is on I-5, but it was bearable because the next day we would be in Disneyland.
Or so we thought.
Some 200 miles down I-5 my car started feeling sluggish. I tried accelerating, but nothing happened. I pulled over, thinking it might just need to be restarted, but nothing happened when I turned the key. The engine turned and would start momentarily before shutting off again.
Great. We're on the side of the road in the middle of Bumfuck NOWHERE, no buildings anywhere in sight, and I have no idea what's wrong with my car.
My girlfriend called her ***, who's a mechanic in Texas, and described the symptoms. He said it sounded like ky fuel pump might be clogged. He suggested calling a tow truck and having a mechanic take a look at it.
Which was another problem in and of itself because my phone was having reception problems and couldn't get a steady internet connection to Google a tow service, and her phone doesn't have internet service.
I called my *** and explained our dilemma. He offered to look online, and he did, but the numbers he found were for Bakersfield, which was about 70 miles away. Every place I called told me to go fuck myself because they don't travel that far.
After making a bunch of calls I was able to find out that we were about 20 miles south of some hellhole called Kettleman City. I was able to get a steady internet connection long enough to find the numbers for 3 towing companies in the aforementioned hellhole. The first one was just an auto parts store. The second one told me to fuck off because they only do big rig trucks, and the third one said they could get us, but that it would take a while because they were really backed up at the moment.
My girlfriend and I waited for the tow truck for 3 fucking hours, and no truck came. When the sun started setting we called the towing place to find out what was going on. They said they would be another 2 hours, or we could call another towing company, which we did.
An hour later we were finally picked up by the tow truck and taken back to Kettleman City. The car was dropped off at a service station, and we were left to fend for ourselves in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Luckily there is a Best Western nearby, so we had a place to *****, but they charged an arm and a fucking leg. $95 bucks a night, to be exact. That's what a hotel in downtown San Francisco! That's for a night in a shitty motel in a hellhole in the middle of nowhere.
This morning we got to the repair station, only to find that the mechanic was at another shop 37 miles away, and that he wouldn't be there for another 2 hours.
When he finally arrived it took him 15 minutes to diagnose it as a faulty fuel pump. He explained that it wasn't a hard fix, but that none of the auto parts stores in the area had it. He said that he would have to hire someone to drive to Fresno to pick up the part, but that it's a 110 miles one way, so they would charge me an extra $140 bucks on top of the $719 that the repair would cost.
So we're currently sitting in the shop, waiting for the guy to come back from Fresno with the fuel pump. We've been sitting in the lobby for the past 7 hours now. We tried walking around for a bit, but the only things around here are the shop where we're sitting, the motel where we stayed, 5 gas stations, and 9 fast food restaurants. There are no other buildings as far as the eye can see. We're literally in a shithole on the middle of nowhere. Its name is Kettleman City.
So, yeah, that's been our much-anticipated trip to Disneyland. Hopefully the guy gets back before too much longer so we can start the 200-mile trip back home before it's TOO late. All I can say is that this trip has sucked balls.
