Day Three. Re-Tired.

With new, pouffy tires, I hit the wet roads and continued on to Des Moines. I was pretty hungry, but determined to get to Davenport, IA to eat at The Machine Shed; a homestyle farmer-centric restaurant I'd read about on roadfood.com. It was still a few hours drive, so I just sucked it up and kept going.

Things were ok until just before I got to Davenport. I was looking for a highway sign to confirm I should exit for the Machine Shed. I saw the sign then felt the car lose power. I wasn't sure if I hit a puddle or what happened, since I was distracted. I exited and just off the ramp, the car SHUT OFF. I was in traffic, but able to quickly restart the car and keep going.

This is the SAME failure that happened to the car a month ago. It would shut off without warning. Turned out to be a failed sensor. Was the sensor bad again or was it from water vapor in the gas line? I was shaking and starving and scared and I just wanted to be HOME. I thought I'd just go eat something, then deal with the car later.

I entered the Machine Shed around 3pm. I was delighted by the country decor, cutesy merchandising and the friendly staff who all wore overalls and red checked shirts.

My waitress, Tina, was very chatty and friendly. She told me about her 21 year old son and that he just came back from military training at Fort Dix and was going to be shipping out soon. She was proud of her son, but scared to yell at him because "What if he died and I yelled at him?"

Food for thought for all of us.

I really couldn't eat. I picked at my food, still shaking from fear about the car problems. I looked up a hotel in Des Moines, hoping that I would make it there. I talked to Sam and he found me TWO BMW dealers. One right there in Davenport and one in Des Moines. I decided to give up on eating and head out to the car and to get to the dealer.

I no sooner started the car when the "service engine soon" light came on.

OH SHIT.

It's not water vapor in the gas, is it?

I called the Davenport BMW. The service manager said they were going to close in 45 minutes and that they really couldn't see me. Diagnostics take 45 mins to an hour to run and they couldn't hold the shop open for me even though I was ALONE with CAR TROUBLES and NO ONE TO HELP BAIL ME OUT.

Nice.

He talked to his mechanic and they agreed it was probably bad gas and that I should be OK to get to Des Moines. He wished me a safe trip. Yeah, thanks...PRICK.

So what should I do? Des Moines was 175 miles away. It was 4:15 pm. i was going to lose sunlight and about to lose my mind. I hoped it was just a matter of burning off fuel, so I topped off the tank, thinking the added gas might help and I began the white-knuckle drive to Des Moines.