Old Photo of Red Triangle of Death – Photo: L. Weikel

Quick Update on Good Girl

Yeah…you guys have probably all forgotten my encounters with the Red Triangle of Death (aka the RToD or RT of D) back in the early months of this year. I’ll bet you may even have thought I was referring to Sheila with that title. She’s not a good girl! (Just kidding…but I am still miffed with her for going on walkabout yesterday.)

Actually, I’d pretty much forgotten all about the RToD as well. My Prius, aka “Good Girl,” has been driving like a champ since we finally got her correctly diagnosed back in March.

It’s funny how that works. I don’t know about you, but I don’t hang on to stuff much. OK, maybe sometimes. For a day or two. But lest you think I’m some chill person who walks through life forgiving every transgression and beatifically bestowing blessings on everyone who crosses my path: NO. That’s not what I mean.

By ‘not hanging on to stuff,’ I mean when something is awry in my life, I’m on it. I’m all about rooting out its source, exposing it to the light, cleaning it out, and healing it. That goes for painful or uncomfortable issues or experiences in my life, such as feeling the intense aggravation and anxiety that comes when your car suddenly screeches out a hellacious beep and flashes a bright red triangle (with an exclamation point within it, just to drive home the point that it’s an emergency! OMG!), and then piles on with a ‘check engine’ light appearing on your dashboard.

In other words, once Thompson Toyota took care of my RToD, I was a happy camper. I did not give the RToD a single additional thought. Nope. I did not waste even one more brain cell on retaining that terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when that sucker would, out of the blue, resurface on my dashboard.

It’s Been Six Months

I’ve been screech and RToD-free for six months. In some cultures, that would at least earn me a sticker or something. Better than any sticker, though, it bestowed upon me utter peace of mind.

There’s nothing better than getting into a car upon which you owe no car payments, having it start up like a charm, and even better, drive like a dream. I have to say (as I’ve said before): I love my Prius.

So imagine that diarrhea feeling I got when, shortly after leaving NYC after seeing The Hu, as it was closing in on midnight and we were barreling home along Route 78, all of a sudden <<EEEEEE>> the RToD and its accompanying screech lit up the dashboard and grated on my ears.

“Uuuuuugggghhhh,” I groaned out loud to Karl. “Not again.”

This had to be related to the extremely unpleasant experience on the drive to NYC earlier that evening when my air conditioning suddenly stopped blowing cold air. It was blowing all right, but without any ‘conditioning;’ it was simply issuing forth bland, mid-temperature air. My heart sank when that happened, but I’d let it go, figuring (a) it’s almost winter anyway; and (b) maybe it just needed to be ‘charged.’ I’d definitely decided I wasn’t going to worry about it.

Loss of Power

And then – adding insult to injury, as we were in the middle of nowhere at that point, a no-man’s-land between Newark and the intersection of I-78 and I-187 – my car suddenly stopped accelerating.

“Ooooooooh, this isn’t good,” I said to Karl as I put my clicker on and pulled into the far right hand lane. “All of a sudden she’s not accelerating anymore.”

“Oh great,” was Karl’s scintillating response as the Prius gradually started slowing down.

“Well, wait,” I said. I couldn’t discern what the difference was, but now it felt like it might be sustaining power. Not accelerating, but no longer losing power either.

We were both quiet for a few minutes as we remained in the ‘slow lane’ and let the Prius have a little breathing room.

RToD Strikes Again

Lucky for us, it didn’t reiterate that hiccup of power again. We made it home Tuesday night, no longer experiencing any further deceleration or ‘loss of power.’ And I have no explanation whatsoever of what that was about. But that doesn’t mean we escaped the RToD. Oh no. Nope.

The RToD screeched at us intermittently the entire drive home. And the ‘check engine’ light that went on never went out again. It was definitely there to stay.

So tomorrow, I have an appointment. I’m really hoping for another miracle. It’s amazing how quickly I forgot all those awful feelings around thinking and fearing my car might be on its last legs. I guess there’s a lot to be said for being ‘in the moment.’

Just one of those things, I guess. We never know when the RToD is going to come screeching back into our lives.

(T-792)