It Was 20 Years Ago Today
Dec. 23rd, 2009 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drpaisleyIt was cold. No, Cold. No, I mean COLD. Colder than most of you have ever experienced. The official low on Dec. 23, 1989 in Kansas City was -23˚F. Dragonet and I went out in our station wagon (a trade up from the demon Nova, believe me) to run some errands and prep for the trip out to her folks's farm outside of Wellsville for Christmas. On the way home, I noticed the brakes were a little soft. After unloading the car, I put the laundry in the back and was going to run to the laundromat to take care of that bit of business. I detoured to the Western Auto (remember them?) to get some brake fluid, which I figured I would put in the car when I got to the Suds & Duds (laundry and beer, a great concept), and headed that way.
As I got to 79th & State Line, the light turned yellow, and I hit the brake pedal, which proceeded to sink straight to the floor, with no discernable effect on the car's rate of speed. I pumped the pedal a couple of times, with the same result, and as the light changed I cruised through the intersection honking and waving like I was in a parade. At this point, a variety of thoughts went through my head. Unfortunately, the word "neutral" did not appear in any of them, and I continued to cruise up the hill towards 75th Street, which had a car in each lane waiting for the red light to change. So I jerked the car into the Sinclair station on the corner, with the door open and dragging my foot to try to slow down (yeah, about as effective as you might think). I was presented with two options at that point: a pay phone (remember them?) with two concrete-filled posts in front of it, or a big pile of snow. I chose the snow, and the car flew up the drift and came to a stop long enough for me to slam it into park and turn it off. As I sat there hyperventilating, the pump jockey came over and said "Wow, that was impressive. You OK?"
Once I could breathe normally again, I walked across the street to the Phillips station that was our regular place for vehicle maintenance. The mechanics (remember them?) were taking a lunch break, and when I came in said, "Brakes, right? Nice work." I inquired about a tow, and they said if I called for one, it would be 3 days given the demand, but there would be one coming in soon with another disabled vehicle, and they would have them get the car and bring it over then. When the next tow truck came in, it had a Range Rover on its hook, much to the amusement of the mechanics. Once the wagon had been brought over, I got the laundry back out and walked the block and a half home to let Dragonet know we had no wheels for the nonce. She called her folks, who basically said too bad, see you when you have a car again. Then we called my mother, in Lawrence.
Mom had called me early in December to finalize plans, and when I asked why she was so far ahead of the curve, she told me they were going to Hawaii. "But it's OK," she said, "we're going to a conference." I informed her it was not OK, conference or no, and said several rude words. They had gotten back that morning and not realized how cold it had gotten, they just figured it felt cold because they'd been in warm climes for a week or so. When Marlin got the car out of the long-term lot, he said it drove really badly for a bit, and he realized later that the tires had frozen with flat spots where they were sitting on the pavement, and it took a bit of driving for the friction to warm them enough to return to round. Marlin was kind enough to drive to Kansas City on Christmas Day and pick us up and take us back to Lawrence for Christmas, then take us home.
So tomorrow afternoon we will head up to Lawrence again, to spend Christmas Eve with Mom and Marlin. Then back on Christmas Day to Dragonet's mom's, and the horde of relatives, though the snow that's being predicted might keep some of them from travelling. We probably will be blessed with the Four Great-Nephews of the Apocalypse (War, Famine, Pestilence and Seth).
But unless you live in Winnipeg or Antarctica or darkest Maine, I think I got yer low temperature beat.
As I got to 79th & State Line, the light turned yellow, and I hit the brake pedal, which proceeded to sink straight to the floor, with no discernable effect on the car's rate of speed. I pumped the pedal a couple of times, with the same result, and as the light changed I cruised through the intersection honking and waving like I was in a parade. At this point, a variety of thoughts went through my head. Unfortunately, the word "neutral" did not appear in any of them, and I continued to cruise up the hill towards 75th Street, which had a car in each lane waiting for the red light to change. So I jerked the car into the Sinclair station on the corner, with the door open and dragging my foot to try to slow down (yeah, about as effective as you might think). I was presented with two options at that point: a pay phone (remember them?) with two concrete-filled posts in front of it, or a big pile of snow. I chose the snow, and the car flew up the drift and came to a stop long enough for me to slam it into park and turn it off. As I sat there hyperventilating, the pump jockey came over and said "Wow, that was impressive. You OK?"
Once I could breathe normally again, I walked across the street to the Phillips station that was our regular place for vehicle maintenance. The mechanics (remember them?) were taking a lunch break, and when I came in said, "Brakes, right? Nice work." I inquired about a tow, and they said if I called for one, it would be 3 days given the demand, but there would be one coming in soon with another disabled vehicle, and they would have them get the car and bring it over then. When the next tow truck came in, it had a Range Rover on its hook, much to the amusement of the mechanics. Once the wagon had been brought over, I got the laundry back out and walked the block and a half home to let Dragonet know we had no wheels for the nonce. She called her folks, who basically said too bad, see you when you have a car again. Then we called my mother, in Lawrence.
Mom had called me early in December to finalize plans, and when I asked why she was so far ahead of the curve, she told me they were going to Hawaii. "But it's OK," she said, "we're going to a conference." I informed her it was not OK, conference or no, and said several rude words. They had gotten back that morning and not realized how cold it had gotten, they just figured it felt cold because they'd been in warm climes for a week or so. When Marlin got the car out of the long-term lot, he said it drove really badly for a bit, and he realized later that the tires had frozen with flat spots where they were sitting on the pavement, and it took a bit of driving for the friction to warm them enough to return to round. Marlin was kind enough to drive to Kansas City on Christmas Day and pick us up and take us back to Lawrence for Christmas, then take us home.
So tomorrow afternoon we will head up to Lawrence again, to spend Christmas Eve with Mom and Marlin. Then back on Christmas Day to Dragonet's mom's, and the horde of relatives, though the snow that's being predicted might keep some of them from travelling. We probably will be blessed with the Four Great-Nephews of the Apocalypse (War, Famine, Pestilence and Seth).
But unless you live in Winnipeg or Antarctica or darkest Maine, I think I got yer low temperature beat.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-24 02:00 pm (UTC)(From someone that knows what ocld weather is:-)
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Date: 2009-12-24 04:01 pm (UTC)