March 6, 2026
Saturday, I was down at a house on the river feeding cats. I backed up to turn around and shifted into D and the car shut off. I put it into park and tried to start it and I had power but it would not start. The dash showed it was in R. So, car thought it was still in reverse so it wouldn’t let me start the car and could not shift into neutral of any other gear. Where I was had zero cell service. Actually, only said SOS only so I had to bounce a signal off a damn satellite in space and send a message to SL to come get me. That really works with the iPhone when you have no other options apparently. We tried to jump it off just in case it was battery related which was a long shot. Luckily, I have road side assistance so I requested a tow truck but had to let them know they would not be able to call me because where I would be with the car was no cell service. So, I was bouncing satellite signals through space asking SL if she could see where they were on the app. Guy finally made and brought it home and was pretty sure he knew what it was but he couldn’t get his hand between the engine stuff to feel for it. So, I had to call for another tow to take it to a shop in town. Well after waiting 175 minutes the guy got here and didn’t have the right kind of snatch truck to pull it up on the flatbed because they did not relay the message that it would not shift into neutral. So, he had to report that and Insurance had to dispatch another company. So, they got here after lunch and towed to a shop and the mechanic walked out into the parking lot and fixed it in about 20 minutes. Said it was a gear shifter bushing. Said they have cars in that do that same thing all the time. So at least that didn’t cost too much and wasn’t major damage.
So meanwhile back at home all day, I had painters here since 8 this morning and they painted the top of the kitchen, the walls, trim and ceiling and it looks so fresh and bright. Cabinet guy also showed up while they were here and got the crown put up so they were able to paint that too.