Betty Lives

Mmm...let's see, I'm not sure if I've told any of you about my recent car troubles, but it should make for an interesting story. Betty has always had some odd little quirks since I've had her, but she's never given me a lot of trouble. Last weekend when I was up in Myrtle Beach, she decides that she's not going to start...for anything. Thankfully, we had a group of about 20 people with us and we were lucky enough to have a few guys who knew (or pretended to know) some of what they were doing. Well, we got her started and all was well...we stood around the car and cheered, and then headed off to the restaurant. Sticky Fingers is right next to the mall, so we didn't even need to get on to the main road and it's a good thing we didn't! I was driving along happily when we went over a speedbumb...the lights in the car flashed and the automatic locks went on and off...we rolled a stop sign and betty died. As I was flipping out, not knowing what to do, Morgan told me to put it in park and try and start it again, and it actually worked...so i kept on driving toward the restaurant. In my distress, i missed the turn and ended up driving the wrong way down a one way street and almost ran into the cement median in the process. That was great fun. After that night, she hadn't given me any trouble. We drove home and she was just as "healthy" as can be...until tuesday. I was already late for school...my essay wasn't saving to my computer and our printer was out of ink, so I was leaving without my essay that was due that day and i was leaving much later than normal. Well, i was crusing along, listening to the radio. I got in the turn lane at a major intersection (lots of traffic) and all of a sudden, I heard the automatic locks go on and off, and poor little betty died again...this time at a green light with a big semi-truck behind me and cars backed up down the street. It took two police officers and a trucker to push me across the street to a tire place where i waited for don to come and pick me up. Betty had to be towed to the mechanic and they ended up replacing the alternator. When I got her back on Friday, I was thrilled. I hadn't realized how much I depended on that car. I had plans to go up to the beach that evening after work, so when 5:00 came, I was out of that office as fast as i could be. Sadly enough, betty died for the third time in the Nationwide parking lot. Fortunately, Don is related to everyone in Georgetown somehow or another, and the mechanic was his first cousin, so they came and rescued us...I'm not sure what he did, but I had her back thirty minutes later and haven't had any trouble since. Yay! My poor little car has survived!