Tiffanie, Break Down, and the Zombie Run

On Thursday we went to see Tiffanie in American Fork and the 4Runner was not happy. The temperature gauge went straight up to hot just before we got on the freeway. David thought it was just an oversight on his part that he didn’t check the water level. He bought some water, filled the radiator and we were on our way again. It happened again just before we got to Tiff’s place in American Fork. He was still hopeful it wasn’t anything catastrophic. Despite the problem with the 4Runner, we had a great visit with Tiff. She is doing great. She lives in a cute little 5th wheel manufactured in the 80’s. It even has a washer and dryer and a large freezer.  Our larger rig doesn’t have those amenities. She works at Office Max a short walk away from her home. This works out great because she doesn’t have a car. When she has to go to church or get groceries, she has some very nice friends and neighbors who give her rides. 

We left about 5 pm while we still had daylight just in case the 4Runner was still having problems. Five miles down the freeway it did. The temperature gauge flipped to hot. I could hear the water boiling out this time. We pulled over to the side of the freeway and down the hill a bit for safety. Cars whizzing past as David got in and out of the 4Runner had me praying he wouldn’t get hit even though we tried to pull off as far as we could get. David poured the last of the water into the radiator, turned the key and white smoke came out of the exhaust. Not a good sign so we carefully got back on the freeway and limped to the nearest exit into Lehi. We tried to find some water at a church and at a park nearby. They both had valves David couldn’t open. We found a nice man in his front yard watching his little girls as they played. He filled the water jugs for us and David once again poured water into the radiator. Just as soon as he did, the water immediately came out of the overflow. The 4Runner was not going anywhere. David called Vern Dad to the rescue and we left the 4Runner there.

David couldn’t get the 4Runner back on Friday so we had to figure out how to contact the nice man where it was parked to let him know we wouldn’t be back to pick it up the next day. I remembered his name, Matt Casey, and part of his address so we tried to use the people finder programs on the internet to find his phone number. The programs either wanted money for the info or his number was listed as unavailable. I remembered the truck in his driveway had Cache Electric on the side so I told David to look that up. He found the number. It was so easy; I called and asked for Matt and even though I sensed his surprise at hearing from me, he was very kind about our situation. Who says I don’t have situational awareness.
Saturday morning David and Kelly tried putting a new thermostat on the 4 Runner in the hopes that it would take care of the problem. It didn’t so they had to tow it to Kelly’s house so he and David can take it apart on Monday and see what is really wrong with it. Hopefully it is the head gasket because the kit was only $100. But they will take the top half of the engine apart to see for sure. If it is something worse then we will have to decide if we want to spend more money on fixing it or just junking it and buy another clunker instead. It’s just another of our mini-Job experiences.

Lionel, Abby and Kelsey

Saturday afternoon we had a great time going with Deanna and Kelly to the Zombie Run. Lionel and Kelsey, their adult children, were running in it. They both dressed up as zombies with gross bloody makeup that Abby, Lionel’s girlfriend, put on for them. It was the first time David and I have ever been to a race. The race was to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Clinic. The Zombie Run was held at This is the Place Heritage Park near the This is the Place monument. It was a beautiful setting and a perfect sunny day for the race.

Deanna, David and Kelly

I made up my mind after watching the agony of the racers that I never want to run in a race.  This was a small race so they only had to pay $25 dollars to enter and an extra $4 if they wanted a t-shirt.

Kelsey and Lionel at the Start

Lionel at the Finish

Kelsey at the Finish

Kelsey and Deanna after the race

After the race, the participants looked just like what they were dressed up as; zombie dead.  And this race was only a 5K run. Apparently, it was a bad race because of a very steep hill they had to traverse. It was so steep most people could only walk it. As a reward they got bananas, a cookie, a bottle of water and sore tired bodies. Big Whoop! However, it was fun for us non-participants to see Lionel and Kelsey running as disgusting zombies.

Brain eating Granny

The creepy brain eating granny who won best costume, Mr. Evil Pumpkin-head on his springy stilts and the four zombie girls dancing to “Thriller” right before the race just added to the fun. Unfortunately, only one of the girls could really dance; the red head. They put her out in front so the audience seemed to be pleased. Deanna and Kelly took us to a great Tex-Mex restaurant called Café Rio afterwards so that made all the standing around waiting to see the kids run the race even more worth it.

Mr. Evil Pumpkin-head

Zombie Dancers

David at the monument

Terrie at the monument