Wedding Clothes, Weekend Woes, and The Car Tow

Well last week, I alluded to some personal stuff going on. Berkeley and his family, and really his childhood community as a whole, lost a close friend. We spent the last half of the week on the road. We left Flagstaff early on Thursday morning and made it to Tucson with just enough time to shower and change from traveling clothes before heading to the funeral. It was an intimate service that was just the beginning to a weekend-long celebration in honor of Mr. P!

The weekend included football, band performances, lots of tears, reuniting with old friends, meeting new ones, lots of laughter, ending with a large memorial concert and service. In the middle of all of this there were two other events that took up our time and energy.

First, and much more happier, we went back up to Phoenix to pick up our wedding clothing. I had my final fitting and saw the beautiful work that the seamstresses did to get my dress just perfect. I could not be happier with them. We both managed to get our attire without the other seeing what was there. I am so excited!

The bigger thing that took over the weekend was the breakdown of my car. For the past 4 years, I have been driving a 1995 Nissan Maxima. It has had it's share of hiccups but it always seems to push through until we could make the repair. Well this time, my little car car is just refusing to push through. She's a tired old gal.

Saturday before the large memorial performance, we went across town to visit Berkeley's grandparents since they will not be able to join us for the wedding. Less than a mile from their home, my car died. We thought it was just another hiccup. Berkeley, like a beast, pushed the car through an intersection and into a gas station. We waited a bit and the car fired up again. Just as we got to the turn lane for the entrance of the neighborhood where the Grandparents (Nana and Tata) live, it happened again. Only this time we were on an incline. I tried to wait again and fired it up. This time we just made the turn and the car died again with just enough speed to coast into their driveway.

We looked at the battery. It was corroded and reaching its death date. After breakfast, Berkeley took off with Tata to replace the battery. We thought that was the cure. Not quite that simple. Next we changed the air filter. It kept us going throughout the rest of our weekend in Tucson. "Thank goodness, it only took some minor maintenance to get the old gal going again" was the thought going through my mind. I should have known better!

Flagstaff sits at about 7500 ft elevation. In comparison, Phoenix is roughly 1200 ft and Tucson is 2600 ft. That means that our trip home would require us to climb at least 4900 ft in elevation. We made it into Phoenix from Tucson smoothly without incident. Outside Phoenix we felt some jerky lunges from the motor. Then the Tachometer started bouncing and weird stuff was going on as we climbed. All of this odd behavior was immediately accompanied by the familiar dips that proceeded the stalling/dying. To make this already long story shorter, we limped the car 75 more miles up the mountain at an average pace of 35 mph (the speed limit is 75) and the car gave up just about 25 miles from home. We gave in and got a tow the rest of the way.

I was bouncing between major basketcase and trying to joke myself through the stress all while being a sobbing mess. Lets not forget that our wedding is now less than two weeks away, and a considerable amount of money has been falling out of our bank account to pay for everything. Oh, and remember how I mentioned how we picked our Berke's suit and my dress. They were in the backseat during this whole ordeal! Most importantly, we are in one piece. We are safe. We are healthy. And I am pretty sure the car should be fine for now. Also, we got to see a beautiful sunset and moonrise as seen above!

So how was your weekend?