Familiar VUE

Well, my VUE had to get towed away today, marking the second time in two months that has happened. Here is the sequence of events:

- On the way home from an excellent Mike Doughty show at Maxwell's in Hoboken with Katie (even though from her blog entry, you wouldn't know I was there...yes, I know I was mentioned in the previous posting, but who got your camera working so you could take that craptacular pic of Mike?), I fall asleep on the NJ Transit train.
- About 20 minutes from the Hamilton, NJ, station, my head is jolted off the edge of the seat, creating a mini whiplash scenario (my neck was already giving me problems, by the way).
- I get to my Bucks County apartment at about 2:45 a.m. and realize my neck is going to give me problems. I take some advil and apply a hot towel to my neck (since I keep forgetting to buy a heating pad).
- I wake up and can't move my head too well...actually, I can barely move it at all.

OK...fast forward a few hours. I go to start my car...it starts...and quickly dies. I try again...and again...and again. Same thing.

Out with the AAA card and my cell phone...I tell them I need assistance and that -- and this is key -- my vehicle is all-wheel drive. This should tell AAA to make sure a flatbed tow truck is sent to my location. However, I learned from the last time my car was towed, that is not always the case. Back in May, it took three tow trucks for my car to finally get hauled away for repair. This time, only two...but why did I waste my time giving AAA every detail of my car and its location when the right tow truck wasn't sent anyway? However, I waited nearly three hours between the first and second tow trucks, which was just absurd.

But the car finally got taken away (as you can see in the photo above) to the repair shop...which closed at 5 p.m. The car didn't get there until 4:45 p.m. Hence, it hasn't even been looked at yet. Ugh.

This is the third major problem I have had with this vehicle in the past four months -- after going nearly three years without a significant problem that didn't include tires (I have this incredible tendency to drive over objects capable of puncturing tires...in a car and on a bike).

I'm thinking it's time for a change of vehicle. :-(