Friday, October 26, 2007

Orin always has to one-up Shannon

So, remember that story, like, a couple weeks ago, of Shannon getting two flat tires the day before a big weekend Oddwalk trip?

Yeah, well, Oddwalk is hitting the road again this weekend, to the diocese of South Dakota, and what happens?

That's right, Orin's car bursts into flames. No, I'm not kidding, says Orin.

I was driving home from temple about 9:15 Friday night, and the car stalls out. I drift over to the shoulder, and turn it off and try to restart it a couple times. The second time, I heard a faint poof sound, and saw flames shoot out the passenger side of the hood/tire area. So I quickly hopped out of the car, not thinking well, and called Erin then 911 - yeah, don't ask me exactly why that order. Anyway, I then discovered in my haste, I had successfully locked myself out of the car, in which was still my keyboard, all my books for school, and several other less important possessions.

Within a few minutes the fire trucks, police cars etc. all arrived, and completely shut down Eastbound I-64 in St. Louis. That's right, I shut down the whole eastbound highway. The flames never really were that impressive, but there was an awful lot of smoke as you can see. Miraculously, they got the two important items just mentioned out of the back seat and continued to put out the fire. Miraculously, all of the other possessions, save a couple Spirit and Song hymnals were completely unscathed in the process - no fire, smoke, or water damage. Amazing.

Erin and our soon-to-move neighbors Dave and Jen came out to load up Orin's stuff and help out. The tow truck came and took Orin's car off to the lot, and We all went home and relaxed for a while. Now, I write this post, before going off to bed.

What may have caused this? Let's just say that Allstate and JiffyLube might be having some conversations in the near future.

Orin's car has served him well for just over 9 years, and as we recently observed, over 200,000 miles. It is a sad passing, so to speak, but the car served honorably and faithfully until tonight, 10-26-07, about 9:15pm. Farewell old friend, you will be missed.

Orin's car on Orin & Erin's wedding night

7 comments:

  1. In order to protect the safety and well-being of our remaining vehicles, I forbid Oddwalk to go to Sioux Falls ever again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you're okay Orin! And, at least the car had a long and productive life...that's all you can ask for really.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Geeze, Orin! Do you ALWAYS have to be center of attention??? ;p Just kidding...you know I love you! And as Marianne said, I too am glad you are OK. And at least your car made the 200,000 mile mark! I guess that's about all it was good for! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had a car that made it to 200,000 miles. My dad sold it to my uncle. Want to know how it met its demise??????? Demolition Derby. No joke, some guy bought it off my uncle, gave it a sweet paint job, and ran it into other cars. Best way for a car to go. (Hi, my name is Ricky, and I am an uncontrolable story-topper)

    ReplyDelete
  5. So I'd just like to say that, um, I had a car that went for over 700,000 miles and then I sold it to my uncle, Donald Trump and he sold it to a guy who made it into a space shuttle and the space shuttle flew into outer space and saved a colony of babies living on the moon...and I can turn invisible. (go to this link and watch the second video down and you'll see what I mean...Penelope is one of my favorite SNL characters ever! http://tallfreak.com/2007/04/06/penelope/)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks like someone needs a ride-share to work. You're in luck, pal! Let's save the earth together, it'll be fun. I'll drive, you play keytar. Eh? Also, I didn't mean to laugh so loudly when I first got the news from Carol that car was en fuego.

    ReplyDelete