How Far Can You Pitch a FIT???

The day started with a dazzling display of blue sky and sunshine.

WHAT IS THIS???  Blue Sky in Eugene, OREGON???  I’d forgotten what it looks like.







And do you see those darker patches on the driveway?  Those are SHADOWS!  Aren’t they wonderful things?  It means the sun is shining.  Therapy is sitting out in that sun just soaking it up and charging her batteries for all she’s worth.


So we ran a few errands in the wonderful sunshine and  took the dogs to Wal-Mart Woods.   (Actually it is a semi-forested part of a church campus next door to Wal-Mart.  There are paths and trees and grass and it is accepted practice for locals to wander through the area as long as you behave and pick up after your dog.)  So Russ walked the dogs and I shopped and we came home and arranged and rearranged things in Therapy for an hour or so.

Then it was time to take the pooches to the groomers.  If you have followed my blog for awhile you know that we have a Honda Fit for a toad.  We needed to gas up the Fit so we threw the dogs in the back and away we went to the groomers.  LaVonna (the groomer) works out of her home and does an excellent job with Rusty and Poppy.

We got the dogs inside and were going to go get gassed up and grocery shop while the dogs had their spa treatment.  NOT SO FAST…the Fit would not shift out of park!  Russ twisted the wheel back and forth, turned the key off and on, pushed on the brake, let up on the brake, engaged the emergency brake, released the emergency brake, and I got out and rocked the car back and forth (hey- it’s a Fit – it weighs almost nothing).  But NOTHING we tried would work.  I tried telling him to close all the windows and open them back up but he said that only works on Microsoft products!

We finally decided we were going to have to get a tow for the toad and so Russ got on his cell phone to make the call.  I got on my cell phone and asked my brother-in-law, Jim,  if he could come pick us up. I got finished with my call first and looked over just in time to see Russ pull out his pocket knife and go to work on the gear shift cover.  NOOO, I thought, you’ll void the warranty.  Turns out he was not talking to AAA at all but to the Honda dealer who was giving him instructions on how to reset the shift lever.

So you take this little cover off, find a little button and poke it with your key while at the same time shifting into neutral.  Have you ever tried to hold down a button with one hand and shift a floor shifter with the other hand?  It just is not possible unless you work in a circus!  But between the two of us we managed to get ‘er done.  We were then able to start the car, and we took off to take it straight to the Honda dealer for service.  But wait…Jim is on his way to pick us up and Jim doesn’t carry a cell phone. 

We went to the main intersection and didn’t see Jim so decided to go back to the groomer’s house and wait.  We got to the house just in time to see Jim go past the street where he should have turned.  Russ put the car in reverse to make the turn to go after Jim BUT he shoved it clear up into Park instead.  SO now we have the same problem again.  Turn off the engine, pry the little access cover off, poke the thingy with the key and shift into neutral.

Car started – off we go to find Jim but he is long gone by now.  We double back to the house and durned if we didn’t get the car shifted into park again – just as we see Jim go by the other way!  Now while we are fiddling with everything the car alarm starts bleating.   We’re in a residential neighborhood, half in the middle of the street, can’t get the dang car in gear and the alarm is blaring for all it is worth.  We can’t get it to shut off! 

Finally it stops of its own accord.  Couldn’t tell you why, but when we try to shift out of park with the little secret button, the alarm starts up again.  We even switched keys thinking there was something wrong with Russ’s key fob.  The only way to get it to shut up was to shift back into park and turn off the engine. 

By now the neighbors were coming out to see what is going on.  In the meantime, we see Jim, once again, in the rear view mirror, drive by on the cross street looking for us.  I think my directions must have been less than precise but in my defense, the street sign was bent and almost non-readable unless you knew what to look for.

We finally started driving with the alarm still wailing.  Went down, turned around, and were flagged down by a woman coming out of her house,  She was NOT happy but she tried to be civil.  Just as she walks over to the car, the bleating stops.  Maybe the Fit was intimidated, I know I was.  As she was telling us in very precise intonation, how to stop the alarm, I had a flash back to my second grade teacher…standing in front of a blackboard, eyeglasses perched on the end of her nose, holding a pointer and using that same precise tone to make her point.  I thought this neighbor was going to send us to the principal’s office…or the sheriff’s.

As she is reciting her instructions I see Jim yet again cross the street going the wrong way.  I told Russ we had to go and we pulled away from the neighbor mid-sentence.  Whew!  Well, Jim was again circling the neighborhood so we got to the main intersection and decided to wait.  Just then we see him coming, and I decided to get out and wave him down.  I had forgotten to tell him we were in the Fit and not the van we normally drive.  As soon as I opened the door, the alarm goes off!  Isn’t that the most annoying sound in the entire WORLD???  But this time I remembered some of what the neighbor/teacher lady had told us.  I grabbed the key, went to the drivers side and unlocked the door with the key.  I don't know why this worked as we had not exited or unlocked or locked the car since before the alarm decided to..well..sound the alarm.

Mercifully, the blaring stopped and I was able to flag down my poor lost brother-in-law.
Jim took me home to get the van while Russ took the errant Fit to the dealership.  Turns out the fella who put in our Brake Buddy and tow bar did a crappy job on the wiring and that is what was causing all the problems.  We had driven the Fit very little since we had the work done but have no idea why today was the day it decided to lock up.  However, I am certainly glad it happened here and not while we were out exploring some lonely desert road!  Tomorrow it’s back to the hitch place and hopefully they will make it right.  I am only sorry I didn’t have a video camera to record all this.  It was Keystone Cops all over again.

Just a little addendum.  After I picked Russ up at the dealer we decided to stop for a quick bite to eat.  It was already after 2:00 and we hadn’t had lunch.  As is our custom, we took a moment to give thanks before we ate.  But when Russ prayed, “Heavenly Father thank you for this food and for this day”, I lost it.  I couldn’t keep from bursting out in laughter and Russ could not help but join in.  As annoying as all that falderal was, it was more hilarious than anything else.  And we are thankful for EVERY day, even this one.  Now, I just hope we can get the repairs made before we plan to leave on Monday.