As I’m sure you’re aware by now, yes, LuLu made it home. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there on the journey back. I am forever grateful for the people who were.
The day after our failed attempts at bringing her back, LuLu was left completely unlocked and unattended on the side of a mountain highway. It was supposed to snow that day. I knew that when I was making my decision to leave her there the night before. My mom and my niece didn’t realize that for themselves until about halfway home.
Fortunately for all of us, upon realizing this, my niece looked up the weather. The storm was pushed back a day so we had one day to get LuLu out of the mountains. That’s one day more than we had previously. so that was a relief. I was still miserable with my decision, though.
The next day, my niece, my mom, her buddy, and his girlfriend all piled into my moms car and drove back up through Woodland park, through Deckers, and back to LuLu on the side of the road. They picked up spark plugs and a fuel filter and brought tools. Her buddy’s goal was to do a tune up right there on the mountain side, replace the fuel filter, and be on their way.
Once they got there and he took a look, he decided that it was likely a carburetor issue included. The fuel filter was too small for the gas lines, but he was able to put the spark plugs in. Some tinkering here and there and they got her going just enough to bring her back.
Now I’m not a religious person, but as my mom has said at least a dozen times, thank god for Nesto.
If any of you are Volkswagen people or Volkswagen people adjacent, you know that not everyone know how to work on a VW. My cousin who came to test drive LuLu is a master mechanic. He took one look at the motor and declared he knew nothing about pancake motors. (And then there’s me…pancake….motor???)
So to have someone who just so happens to be able to tinker on a VW engine while the car is moving is nothing short of miraculous in my mind. This was apparently their strategy the whole way home.
They made it home. It was after midnight, but they made it.
Yes, I’m a little upset that I wasn’t there to get her home. In retrospect, though, I would have been so anxious the entire time its probably better I wasn’t. Letting other people take control is not my strong suit. Neither is trusting others. And especially not trusting that others know what they are doing.
I’m happy LuLu is home. We have work to do on the engine and that is where I’m starting. We are rebuilding her carburetor, finishing her tune up, and getting an oil change for her. Then, I get to learn to drive her (and I’m oh, so excited for that). I won’t lie, though. I’m still a little jaded that I couldn’t at least get to enjoy and celebrate and just be happy before she broke down. We’ll make up for that. I’m sure of it.
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