It was the spring of 2008 and the regional high school 1A baseball tournament was about to begin in Moses Lake. Rick and I, both die-hard baseball fans were on a mission to watch the regional tournament on that dry weekend in May, but unfortunately, we never made it.
We got up early Saturday morning, armed with quad-shot mochas and snacks on hand. I loaded up my newly bought Volkswagon Passat with our baseball gloves and water; it was gonna be a hot one and a great weekend to watch America's favorite pastime.
We were on the road by 7 am to make to sure to get to Moses by 9 for the first game of the tourney. Stopped in Ellensburg for some gas and we were less than an hour out from our destination. Little did I know, my lifelong investment into my new car was about to go down the drain...
As we passed Kittitas, we headed east towards Vantage; a small town that sits on the Columbia River. As we traversed the ridge into the valley, about ten miles west of Vantage, my car made a sputter-sputter-sputter sound. "Shit, are you serious?!" Within seconds, no sound came from my car that was still travelling 60 mph with cars all around us... Sweet. I put my four way flashers on and pulled to the side of the road and popped the hood. At that time, Rick being 18 and me being 16, we really didn't know jack about cars other than checking the usual stuff. We tried the ignition again, but still no luck. The car was done for.
My initial thought was that I should probably call my mom and see what my next step should be and then it hit me; we are in the middle of nowhere, desert and dry heat. No reception with either of our phones... Again, sweet...
We brainstormed on what to do since no one was pulling over for us and we had no way of getting a hold of anyone. So, we took out our baseball mitts and decided to play catch on the side of the freeway. I can imagine how weird we must of looked to the passersby; two kids playing toss on the side of the road. After about a fifteen minute session of catch, we choose to take a little hike to the top of the hill to our south to see if we could get any reception. That was a good choice because we did although it was only one bar. I called my mom and told her the situation. Furious, as was I due to the fact that I had just bought the car, said that she would call a tow truck to come get us.
By this time, it was nearly 11:30 am and the tow truck still had not shown. Rick was pacing back and forth and wasn't looking so good. "Are you alright?" I asked. He paused, "Yes, but I need to go number two... Really bad..." So here we are, in the middle of the desert at ninety degrees with no toilet paper... Really!? The best I could find was a magazine and tore some pages out of the back. I gave them to him and tried to hide my laugh as a began to turn around and walk the other direction. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked in a sly voice. "Uhh... You want me to go with you?" I asked in return. "Yessss. There are rattlesnakes out there and I need a lookout!" Ohhh gawsh...
We again climbed the hill so that no one could spot him from the freeway. As he found a decent " desert restroom", we could hear rattles in the distance. As we decended down the hill, we stopped and looked at each other. We busted up laughing. How much more is going to not go our way today?! Thankfully, nothing more except paying $150 for a tow truck that day. Later, I found out that my timing belt blew and damaged all the pistons. Woo for Kelleher Motors (hint, hint).
Looking back on that day, we still laugh. No reception, playing catch, rattlesnakes, desert pooping and using magazine pages as toilet paper. Ahh, great epicness of May.
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