Car Troubles...

So Monday night, Eric goes out to his car to unload some things he brought up with him, and to get the car ready for the early-morning drive back to Atlanta on Tuesday. He came back up without anything, to tell me that his car won't unlock. (Keep in mind, it hadn't gotten about 30 here in days, and there was snow everywhere, etc). Turns out his locks had frozen shut on both doors of his car!

We called AAA, and the guy who answered said they couldn't do anything, we would need to drive to WalMart and get some silicone spray to unstick them. (Good thing we had a second car...or driving anywhere wouldn't have happened! I think this guy was an idiot--he also told Eric that unfreezing locks wasn't an included AAA service. Sorry, but if they can unlock doors, they should be able to open locks...). So we went to WalMart. Let me just say, the people working at WalMart at midnight don't know anything about anything. We (on our own) figured out what to use, and then asked a guy working there what his opinion was, and he told us to get de-icer that was labeled "for engines." Huh. Didn't know our engine was iced over. Just thought it was the locks. Whatever.

So we head back to the condo, where Eric spends a few minutes trying to squeeze the teeny spray nozzle into the key hole, and squirting spray like crazy into the locks. Nothing.

Plan B: Heat up the car key and see if that does the trick. Eric found a lighter, and tried this. Nothing.

Plan C: Call AAA back and tell them that we tried what they suggested, we still can't get into the car (seriously, if we had an extension cord to use with a blow dryer or something, this step would have been unnecessary. But come on, we live in a condo, just moved, and it's 1am--we don't want to go back to the store to get an extension cord. Plus we have AAA--we should be able to get them to do something with our money!)

Plan C...well it started off well. Eric got a different girl on the phone, and she offered to send someone out. Great. Well, she calls back a half hour later and tells us the first people won't be able to make it, but they're sending someone else. Get a call from people #2, give them directions, they don't show. AAA calls to make sure they came, we say no, they send a third company out. They're supposed to be there by 3:15 (in the morning). 3:15, nobody has come yet. 4:15, Eric gets a call asking for directions. 4:45, they finally show up. (Keep in mind, until 3:15, Eric was sleeping on the couch, and I was still awake so I'd hear the phone. At 3:15, we both went to bed.) 4:50, Eric comes in and tells me he's going to the store, since the guy couldn't do anything (and despite a specific request by Eric for them to bring an extension cord, they don't--and they have nothing to de-ice the locks with).

5:15, Eric comes home from the store (with an extension cord) and goes back to bed. He was supposed to leave at 4:30 to get back to Tech in time for his noon meeting, obviously this isn't happening now! We wake up about 10, and Eric goes downstairs only to find that his car is parked in the sun and the locks have unfrozen on their own.

Lesson of the night: Patience, apparently. Leaving Durham at 4am is never a good idea, this just showed us why. But at least we got to sleep in together for one more day before he left to go back to Atlanta!