STAY OUT OF THE "ZONE"

Let me just tell you about the day I had!

Today I went to Twin Falls, about an hour and a half from my home. Dawson had physical therapy. We usually get that out of the way and have an hour to get our gettin done and rush home to meet Mal off the bus. Today we were going to WINCO! I love WINCO! It is SUCH a great grocery store. SO CHEAP! Especially when compared to Hailey grocery store prices! YOUCH!

So, with about $300 in perishable items in my vehicle D and I hit the bagel place for a sandwich then we are on our speedy way. One problem. I drive a diesel. THEY ARE LOUD! So in order to order I have to shut off my vehicle, which I did. I ordered the "Pride of the Jungle" (turkey, sprouts, cucumbers, hold the tomato please, all on an Asiago bagel. DELISH! The girl tells me my order and I go to fire up the vehicle....NOTHING! Not a click, not a sound! I try a few times. Tell her that I can't start it. Thank goodness there is no one around me. I pop the hood and jiggle the cables on the batteries, you know, the two NEW batteries we just bought! Try again, still nothing!

At this point I become painfully aware of the money going to waste in my back seat! I needed to get this stuff home! AND also aware that I have Dawson screaming in the back seat. He is hungry. His food is at home. Yes there is a whole back seat, but unless there was a blender, it wasn't going through his feeding tube. The only liquid I could find that did not contain soy, dairy, nuts, gluten, blah blah blah...all of which he is allergic to, was Simply Orange (the best juice EVER). That satisfied him for a while.

To make a long story short the manager of the bagel place came to my rescue with jumper cables and a Bronco. We got it started and he told me he would follow me to Auto Zone to make sure I get there. I DIDN'T. I noticed while driving that my radio went off and the dashboard gauges were totally off. I couldn't even roll down my window. Dawson was crying, stuff was melting and I was stressing. HOWEVER, I realize that most likely the only way I am still going has a whole lot to do with prayer! I have never seen a vehicle run without everything else working. It usually goes the other way around.

As luck would have it, when my vehicle suddenly decided it was done it just so happened to be right in front of SCHUCKS AUTO PARTS. Yes, I was still in the road and cars were going around me. At least until Mr. Bagel and I could push the beast into the parking lot. That was fun!

As we pull in an older man comes up to us and asks what was going on. I told him that I thought it was my Alternator. He said that he just so happened to work here, but it was his day off, he just came in to get a few things. He checked the Alternator for me. Probably because he could tell, with D screaming in the back seat, that this just wasn't my day. He ran into the store, looked the part up on the computer, found it (luckily) on the shelves and brought it out. He told me that the part would be $200, but to get it installed it would be expensive and could take quite a while to find a mechanic that could come put it in. STRESS!

What else could I do. I went into the store to pay for it, and as I am in there the guy is out at the truck. He walks in just a few minutes later with MY bad alternator in his hand. He said, "Man, that was easy! I used to work on cars and sometimes these can be quite hard to get at, but this one is so easy." Then when the General Manager rung me up he only charged me their cost! Where do these people come from?!

Within another 20 min. I had a new alternator, the Excursion was running like a champ and I was about ready to hit the road. I tipped the guy that refused to take payment for his work...on his day off. WHATEVER! He was taking my money dang it! Then I told the General Manager thank you. I told him that I would be mentioning this and his store. How I had never been here. Auto Zone was always the first thing that came to mind, but NOT ANYMORE! I had NEVER received customer service like this and I couldn't be more grateful for men that, although totally busy, recognized how frazzled I was and went beyond to help me out! WHAT GREAT GUYS!

He liked the blog idea. He told me to just tell people to "STAY OUT OF THE ZONE" (Auto Zone). So Mr. Clever SCHUCKS (said like sh-ucks) YOU'VE GOT IT!