Yesterday, while I was turning out of the Physics And Astronomy Building parking lot, I saw my friend and asked him if he wanted a ride. Being the kind and polite guy that he is, he said no at first. But it wasnt a big deal. Soon after we are on our way to Capital Hill to pick up a guitar for him from a guy through Craigslist. We talked. We joked. Not talking on his behalf, but I was checking out the ladies on this hot 90 degree day in the city of Seattle, Washington. We make a few wrong turns here, a few wrong turns there. But before we knew it, were parked in front of the guys house/apartment-place. But, there was something a little odd. There was some steam coming out of the right front corner of the hood. In denial, I was thinking, Surely nothing could be wrong, just figured that since its a hot day and that steam came out for some hot day related reason. We popped the hood up, and noticed a an empty container saying cool-tex. Figuring it was the coolant. After asking my friend to ask the guy for someone water, he came back with a couple of red cups. We filled the truck up a little, and started it but the steam came back. So I asked if he could get more from him, but he just looked me with a straight face, and the honest answer that it was really awkward talking with that guy. So he bought a few more bottles at a tiny grocery store across the street, filled up the tank, and figured that wed make it to the @U-District from there. A few blocks away the engine not only started to steam, Ray noticed that the temperature gauge switched all the way over to the right (red zone), steam came shooting from all over the hood. I turned the truck off, yelled to get out, and we quickly made some distance from the vehicle. I honesty thought my red Chevy S10 was going to blow up with the high temperature and low gas tank (more space combustion reactions). Unfortunately, I left my stuff in a carry on bag my mom bought me years ago for Christmas back on campus after a four day astronomical experiment at the Manastash Ridge Observatory. As a result, I didnt have my phone. Fortunately, my friend did, but I didnt know my grandpas number. He was a bus driver and mechanic for the Lake Washington School District until retirement. I figure out my dads number. Call him. Ask him for my grandmas number. She calls me with Lowell. After explaining to him what I was seeing, he explained to me (very accurately) what was going on and how to fix. Unfortunately it meant opening the radiator. For those that dont know, as a random dude mentioned, you want to avoid opening the radiator when its hot or else a lot of steam will come out and burn you like crazy. However, we were losing valuable daylight away from help knowing that I couldnt afford to have my truck towed. So I risked it. I looked in the back of the seat, found an old jacket, poured some water on it. With my heart pounding, I opened the cap... no hot air came out. My friend used his phone to find a store that we could get more water from. We started heading there, passing one mansion after another. Where were we? Im not quite sure. We kept walking, and then I noticed a group of people sitting in a circle with name tags in the gated backyard of one of these large houses. I asked them for water, and they were extremely hospitable and let us a water jug they had for.. whatever it was that they were doing. We grabbed my stuff in the astronomy lab, I dropped my friend at his apartment, and made it back home safely. However, I thought about it. If I didnt pick up my friend and if it werent for him, Ramon Sharma for noticing that the temperature gauge shifting over , I may have drove home totally oblivious that my truck would overheat the way it did and not be here to write about it. A kind deed is its own reward.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 06:51:35 +0000
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