Whew. What a week. I was having an enjoyable Easter weekend last Saturday. Had a belly full of delicious pancakes (thanks, Mount Vernon Fire Department), photos of cute kids hunting for eggs, and had a ticket to the new “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” movie that afternoon.
As I was driving to Lisbon’s Easter egg hunt from my apartment, my radio cut out. As I puzzled over why that might be the case while reading the line “Low Battery” coming across the radio, I remembered the lights had looked a little dim these past few nights.
There wasn’t any squealing, nor the dreaded red-battery light indicating a charging issue. Other warning lights flashed on the dashboard, like ABS, despite driving on relatively dry ground and my brakes still seeming to work.
I realized I was not going to that movie this afternoon, as searching indicated this was at least an issue with the ground wire for the battery, and more likely to be a problem with the alternator. I thought it was better to be stranded without a vehicle here in Mount Vernon or Lisbon.
By Monday evening, my car confirmed it was definitely an alternator issue, as the car no longer had the energy to turn over despite seeming to want to do so. Just clicks and groans. I was stranded without a vehicle now.
That’s left me on foot in this community during a cold spell, leaving me more stressed than usual this week. I always feel like I’m letting the community down when something happens that is out of my control like this.
Mount Vernon is very walkable, and you get to know where a lot of the dogs in the community are, but that dang hill to the newspaper office routinely is a daunting hike, even without wind whipping snow in your face.
Bud’s confirmed it was alternator and battery issues combined, and had it fixed by Thursday afternoon.
Hopefully this is the last sizable repair for the year.
And hopefully I’ll see that Godzilla movie soon…