2010's Grand Finale!

No, it wasn't an awesome fireworks display but a ride in a tow truck! Considering all the vehicle problems we've had this year, we couldn't end the year without just one more breakdown. It's so wonderful to spend hundreds of dollars towing your car and getting it fixed.

***Note, this picture is not of our truck, but this is what we looked like. The kids and I rode in OUR truck on the flat bad and Keith rode up front. Apparently it's legal to do that in our state. And since it was 22 degrees last night, we even had the engine running with the heat on. We were about 45 minutes from home, and it was lucky we didn't have to call a taxi to get the family home or that would've been another $100.

We took the family to Cabela's for a New Year's Eve outing and then planned to go out to dinner(something we don't get to do very often), but when we were leaving the Cabela's parking lot, we heard a loud snap. I looked at Keith and said, "What was that?!" He gave me the "bug eyes" and hopped out of the truck. Yep, the part that basically steers the vehicle sheared off and was laying on the ground, so you could turn the steering wheel, but the wheels weren't turning. Now, even though I'm sounding a bit sarcastic here, I DO recognize this was a blessing, because if we had been driving down the freeway at 70 mph (or driving at all), we most likely would have crashed. It could have been very, very bad. So, I really feel like it was a blessing that it happened where it did (although Keith says it could've happened in the driveway before we left) :) We knew the power steering was having issues with this truck anyway, so it's not a big surprise, but considering the (bad) luck we've had with vehicles this year, I really did NOT want to spend the first day of 2011 with a broken down vehicle...and it's not like we have junker cars either.

My Durango (with only 80,000 miles) is still sitting in the driveway, in need of a new engine that we don't have money to purchase and have somebody put it in (it will cost about $5,000), this is the 3rd break down with the truck this year, and our new Passat that we had to buy in October because Keith's employer pulled his work van because of budget issues, broke down before we even had the license plates on it. That cost us about $500, but it's been working good ever since (crossing my fingers here). Thankfully, we have my Grandma's car to use until she gets back from Utah, and thankfully it will probably only cost about $300 to fix the truck if Keith does the work himself, but it cost $180 to tow it home, so when all is said and done, it will be about $500...just as long as it's not THOUSANDS of dollars!

I was texting my sister while waiting for the tow truck to come, and my sister said, "Well, you could fake like you're drunk. AAA is giving free tows tonight to anybody who is drunk." That made me laugh right out loud! I must say, Keith and I handled this situation pretty well. There was no crying, no swearing, no getting upset. It was as if we deal with this all the time (seems like we do). We just calmly started calling tow truck companies and said, "Oh, well. It is what it is." The kids did surprisingly well too considering it was 4 hours from the time it broke down until the tow truck came and we got home. All with not having had dinner and very hungry. Unfortunately, they are all to familiar with what to do when the car breaks down!