three amigos

Ever since my cousin mike got his liscense, it seemed like almost every other weekend him and his brother dan were coming out to our place on the weekends to go to dances, or magic mountain, or whatever else seemed to be going on at the time. Back in the tale end of the 90's my cousin mike had just gotten off his mission and had come to live with us for a while. At the time he was driving a 1982 chevette. On this particular occasion we had stayed at uncle joe's house. Mike, dan, and I were driving back to palmdale. Like usual, we were taking the back way, since it was quicker and had less traffic and cops. We were making great time, we were around 230^th st E on palmdale blvd when all of a sudden there was a loud bang, and instantly the windsheild was covered with coolant/water. We slowed down and pulled over to see what had happened. Upon first inspection we could not see anything wrong, so we all piled back into the chevette and were on our way again. After about a mile the car started to bog down and stalled. Since we could not get it running, we decided it was time to push. So the 3 of us started pushing the chevette up the road (was literally uphill at that spot), after pushing the car for about a half mile, we dicided to try and start it again. This time it started, so we quickly jumped in and were on our way again, though we did not make it far before the car died again. Once again we climbed out of the car and popped the hood, and this time we could see the huge tear in the radiator hose. Of course we didnt have tools or anything needed for fixing such a problem, so we took and old rag and tied it around the trear in hopes of preventing most the water from leaking out. In this area there are several farms that run along the south side of the road, the ones with those giant watering systems that sort of resemble rows of canons. We looked through the car and found an empty 2 liter bottle of mt dew. I grabbed the bottle and took it over to one of the huge trenches along the side of the road that was full of water. I filled the bottle up the best I could without filling it full of mud at the same time. We filled up the radiator, then topped off the bottle and again headed on our way. After several miles, the chevette started smoking like crazy, so we pulled over on the corner of palmdale blvd and 170^th st e. to fill up the radiator again and look for more water. As we were filling up the radiator, a kind stranger stopped by to see if we needed any help. They happened to have a cell phone we could use (now this was back before everybody had them, we were quite surprised they would let us use it. We thought through our friends trying to pick who would most likely be home that had access to a vehicle. We ended up calling jacquelle, only to get an aswering machine. We tried a couple other people as well, but had no luck. We thanked the kind person and then let them continue on their way. After filling the bottle again we hopped in the car and continued down the road. After a few more miles it started to smoke again, this time there was no water in sight, and once we turned the car off, it would not start again. So we started pushing the car again. After a few minutes of this, I saw a car coming down the road and decided to try and hitchhike back to my house and get my car and some tools and come back out. I told mike and dan my plan and then stuck my thumb out as the car got near. I was surprised that the car stopped! This older lady and her daughter were heading to palmdale. I explained the situation and they agreed to give me a ride. So I hopped in their car and away we went. After a few miles they told me they had to make a stop real quick, so we pulled into this large building that looked abandoned from the outside. The inside was crammed full of junk. They talked to a couple guys with beards in overalls, and then we were on our way again. When they dropped me off I offered them gas money, but the politely turned it down and headed off on their way. I grabbed my emergency kit and a can of fuel and headed back out to find mike and dan. When I got to the spot where I had left them, neither them or the car was there. I thought I must be mistaken ,so I went farther out. After a while I turned around and started heading towards town. As I started to get near 90^th st e. I happened to look at a school off to the left only to see the chevette parked in the parking lot with the hood open. When I pulled in, they told me they had gotten it running again and this was as far as they made it. We used some duct tape to “fix” the radiator hose, filled it full of water. After several tries we got it running again, so mike and dan hopped in and started heading to the house as I followed in my car. once we got it back to the house, it was discovered that there was no oil in it and that the block was pretty much destroyed. That was the end of the chevette as far as I recall