Humor

Ski Trip on Freezing Night Ends with My Car Blowing Up

I should have fixed it before using it that night

Learning to ski was one of those challenges in life that did not come easy, but having the right friends helping me opened up the door to at least try. After a couple of local trips we decided to go to Hunter Mountain in New York on a cold night with my son, boyfriend, and me in my car which tended to overheat, and another couple in their car in the lead as they knew the way.

Coldest night of the year

It was beyond cold. That night I didn’t have a hat and the band I had around my ears did not keep the top of my head from feeling like someone was sitting on it. My son brought his snowboard and had a blast, but I was uncomfortably cold and a little worried as my car was already giving me problems on the way.

This little car that I owned had what they called a heating core problem and needed to be replaced but explained to me the part itself wasn’t the largest piece of the expense, it was removing the dashboard. The cost was too much, so I constantly filled it with water and antifreeze as needed.

That night before we left I did add the necessary liquids and made it safely to Hunter Mountain, but as the night progressed the temperature dropped down to 2 degrees, and the car didn’t provide enough heat to keep us warm. Common sense should have told me to go in someone else’s car, but I took mine, anyway.

Even with our ski suits we were a bit chilly, and our faces and eyes had to be covered most of the time as the wind whipping toward us on the slopes was unbearable. We ended up leaving after a few hours due to the cold and my son being only 10 at the time was becoming tired.

On the way home, with our two friends following in their car, my car was acting strangely. It seemed to be losing power and making little jerky movements. It would move a few feet, then feel as if it shut off, my friend would step on the gas, and it would move then jerk again.

This wasn’t good. My friend said if we didn’t shut it off we would do some serious damage to the engine. Looking back now, it’s kind of funny that he said that, because the next few hours became a series of events I did not anticipate.

Our friends pulled up behind us and it was decided I would leave my car on the side of the road with the snowboard and everyone’s skis and paraphernalia, and the three of us would jump into their car.

We were in Hope Township which was about 45 minutes away from my house at this point and it was already around 11:30 p.m., no one owned a cell phone yet, so I had no choice but to wait until I returned home to let the police know why I left the car, and call AAA in the morning.

Shocking news

As soon as I walked into my house while still in my ski outfit, I threw off my jacket and called the Hope Township police. I told the dispatcher why I left the car and I’d have it picked up in the morning to which she replied, “That car caught fire, it’s been towed to a nearby gas station.”

“No, I just left it a little while ago, that can’t be my car. It’s a little white car with 4 sets of skis and a snowboard in it, and it’s right near the New Jersey border.”

“Yes, that’s the one. There was an explosion, a passerby called the Fire Department and after the fire was put out the Police had it towed. Sorry, but that was your car.”

I don’t know if I dropped the phone or just fell, but I somehow landed on the floor in shock with the phone next to me.

“Are you there?”

“Yes,” I said shakily. “What do I do now?”

She gave me the name and number of the garage where my car had been taken, I wrote it down, cried a little, and went to bed.

The next day my friend drove me to the gas station in Hope and when I pulled in I saw this charcoal car about the size of mine but completely unrecognizable. I had to inspect it up close before I believed it was mine. I could see a pile of burned wood in the pass-through which turned out to be our skis. The stench from burned plastic was ungodly, and there was no paint left on the outside of the car. But, it was my car, alright.

There was very little salvageable except for my attaché case that I carried for work and a pair of shoes still on the floor of the passenger’s side. It seemed that the heat under the hood had intensified to the point of causing a sudden flash fire. It occurred so rapidly that we would not have been able to evacuate in time had we still been in the car when it happened.

I had to say goodbye to my little car. If I had the chance to do it right, I would have taken better care of it.

My car insurance disbursed money for a replacement and my Homeowner’s Insurance reimbursed me for the value of the skis minus depreciation, which did not cover new skis. My friends were satisfied with the money I received and used their share as a deposit on new skis they had been interested in buying anyway.

My next car had a good heater and I was grateful for that— but I will always picture my little charcoal car and try to imagine all the chaos we must have missed after we walked away that night and what could have happened to us if we had not stopped and left the car when we did.

Prompt — Do Over

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