So there we were, driving home from work. As I pulled away from the curb, I immediately heard a funny (not so funny) noise from big red’s engine. It actually sounded like I was dragging a bunch of leaves under my right tire. Then, as I slowly turned another corner I heard another ugly noise like hissing and popping under the hood. I noticed that the power steering was going out. I was in a panic. I was frantically asking Kari who was patiently sitting in the passenger seat, “What should I do? What should I do???!?!” I think I remember her saying to me, “You should call Click and Clack on car-talk!” As I crossed the busy intersection and pulled into the proper lane, big red went Hisssss, boom, bang, woooooooosh, …. and then died. Right. there. in. the middle. of. Portland. evening. traffic.
About an hour later after I had called my car insurance roadside assistance 800number for a tow truck - I came to the conclusion that PORTLANDERS ARE SOOOOOO NICE!!!!!! An elderly man stopped in front of us, got out of his car and asked if we needed a jump or anything. I told him ‘no, thank you’ and that he was so kind, and that we were patiently waiting for a truck. And, two different cyclists stopped along their wet tracks to ask if they could do anything like offer their cell phone. I heart Portlanders!
So, finally I got a call from Speedy Tow Truck company driver- George. Ohhhhh, George. Apparently George was turned around and couldn’t find our location because he didn’t know how to spell “Lloyd” on his gps machine. When he finally arrived, he jumped out of his truck, approached the car and said through his missing teeth, “I woulda been here sooner. My darn gps quit workin on me. I even stuffed a ding-dong foil wrapper that I found in my truck into the gps to make it work. I’ve driven on this street a hundred times and never knew what it was called. AND, who ever spells Lloyd with two L’s!!!!?!!!!” George continued to explain as he was towing us and big red back to our house, “I kept typing into the gps L-O-Y. And, it kept tryin to take me to LOY street. Damn gps. I still don’t know who ever thought to spell it with two L’s. …Say, did I tell you about the time I was towing this guy who musta been homophobic cuz I kept grabbin his ass and then he’d punch me real hard? Boy, he definitely had a good arm! Har Har Har Har!”
Did I tell you that his tow truck smelled like a honey bucket?
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