The Safest Axel Split in the World

Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaa. The joke's on us.

We just got our car back Sunday after Jim spent Friday night and all day Saturday replacing a very worn clutch, and what happens? Let me recount for you:

The car was fine half-way through the errands Sunday, and then I notice it lurching when I turn to the left into Hannaford's. I drive home, tell Jim about it. Forget about it. Then I drive it to the pool today to take the kids to swimming lessons and all goes well. Until I turn into the pool--the first left turn of the drive.

Lurch, lurch, lurch.

I've felt and heard this before--right after my accident this past winter while taking CJ to her Princess Pageant rehearsal, and on the harrowing two-hour ride home in the Suburban at 25 mph after something went terribly wrong turning into the mall several towns away from home.

I have this feeling nobody should be driving the Jetta, like something might go terribly wrong with a wheel flying apart on the highway or something. I pray and ask God to hold the wheel parts together and give us what we need to fix them so no one gets hurt.

When Jim comes home tonight, I suggest he take it out to hear it himself. He's baffled what it could be. The spring that's still broken from my winter accident wouldn't make that noise. So he takes a shower and then goes out for a spin.

Ten minutes later, he walks in the door. "I need you to come outside with me to steer the car."

"What?" I say, wondering what he needs me to steer it for. He repeats himself (sometimes my ears don't hear well) so I put on my shoes and follow him out.

As I'm hitching a ride on the tractor in my skirt, unusual garb for me, he tells me the axel let go on him in the driveway. We're driving down to pull it back up with the tractor. Now I understand. It's another car haul. The last time we had to do this was when we had so much slippery slush at the bottom of our hill this past winter that he had to come down and pull it up with the tractor. Deja vu.

So I steer while Jim pulls me and the little red sickly VW along. Just as we inch to the place it will rest, I hear a loud metal clunk and then thump. Not good. Jim finally stops the tractor and gets out to look at the wheel.

The axel has fallen completely apart. It's bent toward the ground apart from the tire. I stare in amazement. There's no driving that thing anywhere. I had never realized my prayer for God to hold the car together was so literal. It reminded me of the trip home from the mall in the Suburban. That was the axel, too. It was so bad that when the mechanic took it out for a test drive to see what was wrong with it, he didn't dare drive it off the lot. According to him, it was a miracle the axel stayed together to bring the then seven of us all the way home.

This time I know God has done another miracle. He kept it together when I drove it yesterday and today, gave me wisdom to know Jim needed to look at it tonight, and then let it fall apart in a safe place. God watches over and keeps His children indeed.

This axel is not the one that replaced what I broke in my winter accident, but it is the one that broke on Jim, IJ, and Grampa Tom on their long trip to a far away race track. (They never made it that night.) That was less than a year ago, and the new axel should not have come apart. Since it's a faulty axel, we'll get a free replacement. At least we should according to the CAP rep tonight.

So Jim will spend tomorrow night retrieving tools like an impact wrench from friend Dale's garage and start work on it in the evening, if there's enough sunlight, and continue the next evening. Looks like there might not be any Bible study for me Wednesday night. But maybe. We'll see.

One bummer is that tomorrow and Wednesday we're looking at horrid temperatures--highs in the 90's with a heat index up to 110. There's a really cool gadget, the Auto Cool Solar Powered Car Fan that keeps the interior of a car cool while parked using solar power, something we could definitely use to avoid roasting ourselves when we first get in. But such a thing wouldn't help poor Jim who will have been outdoors roofing or framing for my dad's new garage doors in the sweltering heat all day. He's going to have to lay in the dirt (hopefully we can find him a tarp or cardboard) to fix this thing without any reprieve except for maybe the two-hour round trip ride he gets fetching tools. Someone should make a solar powered personal fan or cooling system when parked outside a car.

I'd turn our hose onto the misting spray and aim it over him, but that would only make mud for Jim to muck around in.

But wait! I heard mud keeps you cooler. Doesn't it? Somehow I don't think he'd go for it. Oh well. Maybe the day's work dirt will help keep him cooler. Extra sun barrier, right?

All in all, this is a bit of a pain, especially for Jim having to do this axel replacement over, but I have to say, when things go wrong, I'm glad we have God on our side. It couldn't have gone wrong more right.