AZ heat

Well, it happened. I had a negative encounter with the AZ heat. I was driving home Sunday afternoon and it was 117 degrees in the shade. I was comfortable in my air-conditioned car (thanks Uncle Chuck for walking me through the recharge process) but my car was not so comfortable. I learned that car batteries have a very short lifespan in AZ. The effort of powering my a/c and the high temperatures caused my battery to die right in the middle of the road. Fortunately, I wasn't on the highway and was able to coast into a parking lot. Unfortunately, I was 25 miles from home. AAA (thanks Mom for the membership!) would only tow it for 5 miles for free and then $5/mile for every additional mile. Fortunately, I was only 6 miles from Al & Mary Snyder's house (they attend Trinity) and they agreed to have it towed to their house. Unfortunately, by the time all this had transpired (the breakdown, my attempt to solve the problem myself, waiting for the tow truck, etc), it was too late for Al to help me replace the battery because he had an early meeting Monday morning. Fortunately, Al's generosity knows no bounds and he offered to drive me home, purchase and install the replacement battery, and find someone who could drive me to work Monday morning while he had my car. I am so humbled by his giving spirit. I pray I will have the opportunity to "pay it forward." I am also so appreciative of Rose Roth for volunteering to drive me to work. Al called me at 1pm today to say that my car was fixed and fully functional. He even did some diagnostic work to ensure that the battery was truly the root of the problem and not something else, such as the alternator or starter. Heather picked me up after work to pick up my car and I am now home safe and sound with a working vehicle. It has been strongly recommended that my next vehicular purchase be a white or light-colored car. The black paint does a great job of maximizing the sun's rays.