On the road again

I had been without a car for four days as of today.
Well, I wasn't exactly without it. It was there, sitting in the parking lot of my apartment building, hibernating beneath a blanket of snow.

On Friday, I went out to the car to head into work.
It wouldn't start.
Now, my car and I have a pretty good relationship. I've put it through a lot in the five years or so that I've had it -- criss-crossing Kansas more than any car or human should on 11-hour trips between Denver and Columbia, Mo.; road trips around the Midwest; and sticking it in the middle of what might as well be the Antarctic for the past three winters -- but I think we're stronger for it. We've only really had two major spats: Once, when I left the headlights on when taking a nap at a rest stop and killed the battery -- my fault. And once, when it refused to start right before my friend Jeff's wedding -- not my fault.
Now I should mention that the night before my car failed me, the temperatures got down to about 20 below. The connection between these two events was not lost on me.

There are two funny things you'll notice about people and their cars up here if you're not from the area:
1) Many cars have extension cords hanging out of the hoods. This is to plug in their batteries to keep them from freezing overnight, I learned.
2) Many people will leave their car running in a parking lot. I've been out to eat with people who will just leave their car on so that it stays warm and doesn't stall.
To most people, these seem like odd things, but around here, it's pretty common. However, I'd gotten through two winters and this one so far without any more than some grumblings from my car. I had already promised it a warmer climate as soon as I can find a new job. So I was a little surprised when it wouldn't start. The battery wasn't frozen -- the radio and lights still worked. I thought maybe whatever it was would just need to some time to thaw. Although since we're not going to hit temperatures above freezing anytime soon, my wait-it-out strategy didn't have a lot going for it. But it was Christmas weekend so I didn't have a lot of choice but to rely on the generosity of a few friends to chauffeur me to work and back. Besides, it was inching above 0 degrees, and I figured that had to count for something.

I tried to start the car a couple of times every day over the weekend, to no avail.
Finally, this morning (Monday), I called my insurance company to get a tow truck to take me to a nearby repair shop. A guy at the shop had said it might be a flooded engine, in which case the spark plugs would have to be replaced and the oil maybe changed. All in all, it would be about $50.
When the tow truck arrived, the guy listened to me try to start it, agreed about the engine being flooded (through no fault of my own, it should be added; he said that just happens sometimes in cold weather with four-cylinder engines). But his solution was much simpler and cheaper -- press the gas and keep trying to start it until it burned off the extra fuel. Sure enough, five minutes and $0 later, I had a working car.

I guess sometimes Santa drives a tow truck and delivers his gifts a little bit late.