Thursday, August 12, 2010: Work today from 7:35am to 2:05pm.
By 2:45pm: driving to Kona on a partially routine shopping trip and to pick up an item that had been back-ordered.
By 6:45pm: All items checked off the to-do list in quick order and I begin the drive back home…
Approaching the airport intersection, my car displays a well overheated status…I was glad airport was the next turn, and I dive into the first location that seemed to make sense – the Rental Return lots on approach to the airport.
I owe a great big Mahalo to the Alamo rental-return employees! Theirs was the first lot that looked inviting to an ailing vehicle not of their own fleet.
They let me allow my car to cool down sufficiently and then loaned me a water jug so that I could fill the radiator. It took a bit of time for it to cool sufficiently so that I could safely add the water.
Well, that would have been great if my radiator cap hadn’t have suffered a huge going-to-pieces 😐 When I took off the cap, part of it remained in the radiator fill spout and part of it bounced off in the dark not to be seen again. I managed to remove the piece that was blocking the spout and filled the radiator when it had cooled; but the cap would no longer make a seal.
Oh. Boy. Andy was doing an all-niter on Mauna Kea. Now what to do?
I called the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station and asked for him. He was in the middle of a “Star Tour” and would call back. Several minutes later when he did call back, I explained the situation. After I called the insurance, I determined that the best thing to do was to call a tow truck. Thankfully, there had been a tow company dropping off a vehicle earlier; and one of the Alamo guys suggested writing down the phone number.
I called T&T Towing 24 Hour Service, and they dispatched a truck right away. Alamo was forced by liability issues to request that I move my car off their lot and they were VERY polite about it as well as helpful. I limped my car off the lot (and watched as the temperature gauge quickly began to rise), and found an area by the curb that was not painted red to wait.
In about 15-25 minutes, the truck appeared down the street and I waived him down to show him that I had moved the car. He quickly, but carefully put my car on the wheel lift; and we were off. I was finally home by 10:00pm! Thank you T&T for being there and not breaking my pocketbook!!!!
Thus I walked to work and back home again on Friday; while allowing Andy to enjoy the whole night at 9200 feet observing the Perseid Meteor Shower and taking astrophotos.
I am sure he will soon post some of the results to his Blog “A Darkerview“! 🙂
