A celebration not to be denied!

This past Saturday Melissa and I set off for a long planned and much needed night away in Sonoma at a place called The Lodge to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We dropped the kids off with our trusted friends Jamie & Amanda along with their three kids. We new the kids were in good hands and we did not have a care.

In preparation I cleaned the car and even filled it with premium gas.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a high in the mid to upper 70s and we drove up the very scenic I-280 which has to be one of the nicest urban interstates around.

When we hit San Francisco we decided to go through the city on 19th street which cuts through to the Golden Gate bridge. It turns out a lot of other folks had the same idea and the traffic was pretty bad and we would often have to sit through the same light two or three times. Our progress was painfully slow and I had to work hard to keep myself from getting frustrated and I thought back to the other times I had been stuck in traffic on 19th street. I stayed zen though and we started to get close and have a glimpse of the bridge.

We were about three lights from breaking through when I heard the cooling fan of the car come on and run. I knew it was hot and we had been in traffic for a while so I was not too concerned really. We made it through one more light with just a few to go to freedom when I looked down and saw that the radiator light was glowing orange and the temperature of the car was peg in the red at 120 degrees C!! I knew I had to act fast so we pulled over on Geary which I knew was a semi-major road because I hoped there might be help near there.

My second thought was disappointment because I knew that this could be a serious blow to our night away and the spa that awaited us.

We were able to find a free space along the curb (which was a small miracle) and pull over and stop the car. I opened the hood and looked at the reservoir and sure enough there was no water registering in the system, bone dry as they say. Fortunately we were right next to a small corner store and I thought I would just go in and get some water and we would be on our way.

After securing a couple of gallons of water I started filling up the radiator only to have water start running out from under the car into the gutter. Not good, not good at all!

At this stage Melissa suggested calling AAA to get them to help. In the mean time I bent down under the car to see how bad things were. a quick inspection indicated that the water was coming from somewhere around the bottom of the radiator. I reached under to discover that the hose had become disconnected from the base of the radiator. Fortunately the hose seemed to be in good shape still. The bad news was that the clamp was broken and there was no car parts store in sight (only ethnic restaurants).

I went back into the local shop and tried to find something that could be used to clamp the hose.

In the mean time Melissa got through to AAA but they only offer gas, towing and battery charges. I did not want to take the time to tow the car so I told them I would call them back if I needed them.

The shop had nothing (without getting all MacGyver) so we decided to scout around to see what we can find.

The first thing we found was a tire shop but they didn't have anything to help us however they did point out that 7 blocks up there was an auto parts store.

We decided to keep going and came to a Midas muffler shop and Melissa decided to go in and give it a try. It turns out they had a clamp that was about the same size (I was carrying the broken clamp) and they sold it to us for $5.

We headed back to the car and the little shop (i needed to buy screw drivers too).

I fitted the new clamp on and we refilled the radiator. Upon starting the car we saw that there were no leaks!! We watched it for a few moments just to make sure. With no leaks we turned and went on our way!

Below is a picture of me enjoying a beer in Sonoma with much relief on my face! Our trip to Sonoma and our anniversay celebration was not denied!