Need a boost?

Have I mentioned how much I hate Jay's Jeep?  Cause after this weekend I hate it all the more. 

Yesterday morning, my car wouldn't start.  I remembered a few weeks ago at an infusion we boosted off a doctor with a dead battery.  At the time he mentioned the battery connection needed cleaning off, but Jay hadn't gotten around to it. 

He didn't have time yesterday either (he had to meet clients) so he told me to just drive the Jeep to church.  Not an easy task given my dress and 4 inch heels, but a girls gotta do what she can so I climbed in and took off.

By the time I arrived at church I was a sweaty mess with wind blown hair.  If you'll remember, the A/C in the Jeep is broken and since its just a toy that mostly sits around in our driveway, we're not willing to shell out the $$$ to have it fixed.  I had no choice but to drive with the windows down, and even still it was toasty.

After church I climbed in, excited about meeting my mother at the pool.  With a high of 95* + humidity, it was the perfect day to cool off splashing in the water. 

Only the Jeep wouldn't start.

So practically all of the men in the young adults Sunday school class pushed it, while Brandon (a buddy of Jay's) tried to pop the clutch. 

The stupid thing still wouldn't start.

Apparently something had set off the (now silent) alarm on the Jeep.  It wasn't a dead battery, it was the tripped alarm not allowing the vehicle to start.  Jay told me that there was a series of things that I needed to do in order to turn the alarm off.

Only he didn't know what those were.

Most everyone that was out there with me had young children sweltering in the car, so once they saw it wasn't going to boost they took off.  Brandon offered to leave the church open once I said that my parents were on their way to get me, but an older (than me at least) couple offered to take me wherever I wanted to go. 

I figured it'd be easier to meet my parents in town, so we headed off. We got about 10 minutes from the church and Jay called.  He found the sequence to the Jeep and wanted me to try it.  When I told him that we weren't in the parking lot any more, he asked me to turn around.

Seriously? 

Cause those people were really nice and I hated putting them out any more than I had to.  They obliged when I ask them to turn around and take me back to church.   I put Jay on speaker phone and he tried to walk me through the steps.

Only the Jeep wouldn't start.

The guy told me that it seemed as if I was following all the instructions, but that the toggle switch might have been disconnected - it looked like 2 lines should be going in, but instead only one was.  At that point my dad called back and I told him to come onto the church.

Jay wouldn't let me leave the stupid thing, but I had about had it.  I begged the couple to leave me - after all I wanted to kick, scream, cry and be ugly, and I couldn't be any of those things in front of them.  They insisted on waiting until my parents showed up.

Jay's clients cancelled on him 2 hours after they were supposed to meet, and it was another 20-30 minutes before he arrived at the church (thankfully I had packed a cooler of drinks for the pool or else I'd have been dehydrated at this point) and started working on the Jeep.  Turns out one of the wires had become disconnected and he had to rig it back up.

Around this time, we saw a white vehicle pull into church then turn around on the back side.  A few seconds later the preacher drove around.  Apparently we'd been messing with it for so long, the preacher & his family had time to go out to lunch, eat, and return. 

He drove around and asked if there was anything that he could help with, if we needed any tools.  Jay was pretty sure he didn't need anything, but the preacher said he just lived a couple minutes away if we needed him.  He gave us his phone number just in case.

Something I'd done in my haste and frustration killed the battery.  I think I left the switch on or something.  Honestly when I was done with it I would have put it in neutral and rolled it into a lake if one would have been nearby. 

So once Jay got the alarm issue fixed (I mean who the beep keeps an alarm on a 14 year old vehicle that doesn't even have air conditioning???), the battery was officially dead and...

the stupid thing still wouldn't start!

So my dad got out his chain, hooked it up to Jay's Durango.  He pulled the Jeep all around the parking lot for Jay to try to pop the clutch.  My dad maybe be old and rapidly becoming feeble, but he fully believes its not how much effort you put forth its what you get done.  Why kill himself pushing the Jeep when the big ole chain and V8 engine in the Durango can do a better the same job?

That was when I desperately wanted a camera.  Only I don't have one, and Jay's was in the Durango.  It put me a lot in mind of the kiddie rides at the fair, where they ride in circles pretending that they are driving something, only someone else is really in control.

When that didn't work, Jay decided we were just going to have to buy a new battery.  It was close to 3PM (church lets out shortly after 12) and I was starving, so we hit Auto Zone, then McDonalds before heading back to the church).  After the ole switchero, the Jeep fired right up and we were on our way.

Finally.

Then we headed home.  He boosted my car, then shut the engine off.

Only it didn't start back.

You've got to be beepin kidding me!  After he cleaned the corroded connections and greased them up really well, it started without having to be boosted.

A  flat tire last week, a dead battery this week - this better be all of our car trouble for a while!