Truck Adventure

I had a close call with the pick-up last night. Emily & I met Austin in Waterloo after work to go out to eat with friends. (Great food, great company, crazy kid.) Austin took Emily home in the van while I did some quick grocery shopping with the truck. I'm not used to driving that big thing. I noticed the battery light was on, but didn't think much of it b/c I'm so unfamiliar with the vehicle. When I was about 4 miles from Denver I noticed the dash lights getting distinctly dimmer. Then I realized the radio was fading. Next went all the gauges. Then the headlights. I was starting to get a little panicky because I was still 2 miles out of town, it was 9:30pm, very dark without any kind of lights and a -4 wind chill. Plus, I had realized earlier that I had left my cell phone on the counter at home. I kept my foot on the gas and just prayed I'd make it to town. When I got there I decided to pull into Kwik Star, but at that moment I lost the power-steering and brakes. So I coasted to a stop along the curb right in front of Kwik Star where it died. I was able to use their phone to call Austin. After a bunch of back and forth to home and using the van to jump it twice we barely got it home to the garage. Austin charged it overnight and with no lights/heat/radio got it to the repair shop in Waterloo this morning. A brand new alternator later it's hopefully good to go. Good thing we filed our taxes this morning--I guess we'll be doing our part to stimulate the economy! ;o)