If you’ve been following along then you know I was on bed rest for 5 months while I healed a pressure sore. I got off bed rest January 8th 2024. As you can imagine I was tired of being cooped up inside my house. That being said I was eager to get outdoors and go and do things besides go to doctor’s appointments and such. Since around about mid March, the weather where I live (Boise, ID) has really been quite nice.
With the weather being so nice lately, it’s a great time to do annual maintenance on your vehicle. I am pretty damn knowledgeable when it comes to working on cars and I have a pretty good success rate when it comes to diagnosing issues. That being said, around about the 1st of April, my brother brought his two cars over for oil changes, both my sisters have two cars that I had to diagnose and fix, and my mother’s car as well. All of their cars are running flawlessly and you would never know that just a couple months ago they ran like a bunch of Clunkers. Hell my sisters Hyundai Santa Fe sat for over 11 months in her driveway because nobody could fix it until she asked me. My mom’s Pontiac G6 sat for just over a year because she stopped driving due to health issues. Both cars running premium right now. You would never know
That brings us to last Wednesday. May 22nd 2024. One of my brothers came over that morning and we were tinkering around in my garage. Actually we were trying to find out what was wrong with my track chair. That morning it was in the 50s so it wasn’t too warm and it was just cool enough to be too cold. Especially as a quadriplegic with no ability to warm his body temperature without a source of heat. Because I was cold, we opened the garage door and I got in my vehicle to start it up and use the heater to keep me warm so I could continue to help my brother with the project we were working on and keep him company.
Well I got in my vehicle, got turned around and got situated in my wheelchair, and I was talking to my brother while he went to shut the door. This is a minivan we’re talking about, and I’m talking about the rear passenger side sliding door. As he went to shut it, it completely came off track dropped about 4 inches and twisted so that it was now coming in contact with the rear passenger side Tire. This resulted in my vehicle being absolutely undrivable, inoperable, useless. The door won’t shut, it won’t go back on track, and simply removing it is not an option.
As we started to investigate and attempt to fix the door it was like something was constantly fighting against us. You could just tell something wasn’t right. This intern caused us to start investigating. Why won’t this door go back on track, why won’t the door shut properly, why did this happen in the first place??? That’s when we got the tape measure out. After a few minutes it was easy to realize that my handicap accessible wheelchair van was bending in the middle. Between the front tire and the rear tire, the chassis or the body of the vehicle is bending in the middle towards the ground. It is a half inch out of square. This has made my vehicle completely inoperable, unusable, broke down, and to be honest, I think it’s going to be totaled out. I’m not sure we will see what they say but I’m still waiting to hear from my insurance company.
The reason for my question, why does it always happen like this? Is because I have literally fixed six different cars in the last month and a half for free and out of the kindness of my heart, only to be screwed and left stranded in the end. I got my vehicle in 2014 when it only had 2500 miles on it. Today it has just over 51,000 miles on it and until now not one of those miles has it ever left me stranded or broke down on the side of the road. So why is it that every time I reach out to help somebody, every time I do something kind, every time I act selfless, or every time something good or great happens in my life, the second I actually start f#@$king enjoying myself, shit hit the fan?
My van has been so reliable and so dependable. We’ve driven it across the country with no issues, take it on road trips that are several hundred miles long without being the slightest bit concerned. I can basically fix anything on a vehicle, well I guess I can’t because I’m a quadriplegic but I used to be able to and now I just explain the process and watch other people do it step by step to make sure they’re doing it correctly until the job is complete. The one time it actually does break down, it happens in a way that I could not fix. It happens in a way that is most likely catastrophic, unfixable by anyone or cost more than the vehicle is worth. What is up with that?
With all that being said I’m stuck at home with no ability to go anyway however I’m not letting it get me down. There is no need to sit around and dwell on things you have no control over. I’m not letting it ruin my day that’s for damn sure. Anyhow thank you for reading if you have any questions or advice feel free to hit me up but for now, always remember… If donkeydidit… You can too!
Uncle Donkeys Tales 