Loss of a Starship gaining a TARDIS

It's Spring Break  2012 and I've off to retrieve Technotaz form Iowa State.  It's about 4 PM and I'm in Grinnel, IA.  Taco John is close so I go there. (Aside: In reality Taco John is about three miles or more from the I80 highway.  Seriously, your resteraunt should not be allow to have a blue high way information sign for an exit unless your place is right on the exit ramp, 500 yards tops!  None of this Exit 123 for Hardees, and when you take the off ramp another sign directs you to drive 5 miles to downtown Mule Knuckle for the only Hardee's in the county.)

I get my food and start to make my way to the highway.  The road out of Grinnel is a 4 lane street.  Two lanes coming into town and two lanes leaving town.  I'm the the right hand lane heading for a red traffic light.  I stop and I'm the first car in the lane.  Next to me in the left lane is a plain white deliviery truck.     the traffic light is a simple three color light with no turning lane lights.  The light turns green. The truck makes a left hand turn and I go forward.  A red SUV truns right in front of me!  Just like the white truck she turn from the opposing left hand lane.  WTF!  Just because the light is green does not give you the right of way unless the traffic is clear.  I slam on my brakes and the Red SUV's bumper plows right into the hood of my cars.   The collision takes the SUV through my grill, radiator, hybrid drive system and into the engine block.  Any faster and the SUV could have killed me! 

My Car is dead in the intersection with a pool of lime green coolant froming under the front end.  Just like a blood of blood froming under a murder victim in a cheesy cop TV  drama.   I am just pissed.  I just put a trailer hitch on my Honda so I could haul my bikes around to different trails in the Midwest.  I seems to have bad luck with trailer hitches and vehicle life.  Six month I put a trailer hitch on the Dodge minivan, my dad buys a RAV4 and trades their old Toyota minivan for our older minivan.  Our older minivan gets donated to charity and goodbye to the $200 it took to put the trailer hitch on the Dodge minivan.  Fine...Fine ...Fine  The Toyota Minivan has heated seats and a sunroof, so it's ok.  I still feel like i threw $200 away.    So in the summer of 2011 , I bite the bullet and fix some thing bugging me with my Honda Hybrid.

I replace the stereo, so car radio now has a USB jack for my ipod and I buy a new trailer hitch.  I'm now out about $700.   I'm staring at my dead Hybrid.   I know the car is dead becuase the cops asked me to try and start it.  The cops are giving my the stink eye as well.  I bet they are wondering if I'm going to freak out and start doing lines of coke of something.  The Red SUV is parked on a side street.  The SUV looks pristine from were I am telling my story to the cops.  Another set of law enforcemnet officers are talking to the other driver.  She is an 82 year old grandmother!  She's in tears cry her soul and telling the cops it's her fault.  Evidently she did not see me from her seat of the RED TANK she was driving.  The police call her family.

Her son and some assortment of young adult grandchildren show up.  They comfort and take her home.  SHE GETS TO LEAVE THE SCENE!  The cops are looking at me, with the same look you get from a four year old when offer him some candy, but instead give him and apple.  You can tell they want to charge someone, but the old lady (Bless Her Heart!) already admitted fault.  I'm free to go.

Long story short.  I spend my spring break filling out paperwork and looking for a new car. 

I settle on a blue box....

Now I just have to decide if I risk the cure and put a trailer hitch on my Prius for my bike carrier.

Dammit!

It's been at least 5 years since I made this mistake. I left my lights on and the car battery was drained while I was at work. I was priding myself on not using my AAA towing/roadside coverage at all last year. Now this has happened. Normally I go to work late enough for the sun to be up and daylight is well underway. However since it's spring break for the kids I can get to work earlier than normal. I Have auto-headlights so I don't pay attention to turn the lights on unless it is dark or foggy. The headlights are always on when driving, and turning on the lights just illuminates the dashboards and activiates the rear lights. When driving at dawn I may need to see the dashboard but by the time I drive into the college parking alot the sun makes everything in the car appear dark. I miss the cue that my light may still be on.
So I come out of work ready to drive home. I hit the keyless entry and nothing. No Happy beep. No flashing lights. No Open door. I think to myself it's about time the watch battery gave out in remote for the car and open the doors with the key. I get in, turn the key, and squat! NO..NO...NO I did not do this. I'll be damned if I go call AAA. How ironic, I'm in a hybrid car with a 600V battery and I can't start the car because of a dead 12 volt car battery. I tried the run and pop trick, but could quite get it to work. It should but I bet I couldn't get the car rolling fast enough. I always loved that trick. My Dad could do it all the time. The manuals for the car implies that popping the clutch should work, but does say exactly how to do it. Now I'm stuck looking for the night mantianance guy, who like to spend his time surfing the web. I get lucky and find him on his smoking break. He grabs the portable jumper. ( The guy or gal who made that deserve to get oral sex every day for the rest of his/her life.) My car starts and I drive home. Quietly kicking myself and my ego.