My car blew up and I got a teaching job!!

My little blue Toyota Corolla that I have been driving for the last 14 years finally croaked. Barry and I were headed to Reno on Saturday and the car was driving fine for the first 3 hours. We decided to take my car because it isn't a gas hog, like his truck is. We started to hear a funny sound on the highway near Sutherlin, just north of Roseberg. I thought the tire was going to blow, but instead we heard a loud BOOM and smoke came pouring out of the hood. We pulled over and another car pulled over too. She went to her trunk of the car and pulled out a fire extinguisher. We didn't even know that the engine was on fire. I was going to open the hood and Barry came right over and moved me out of the way. He peeked under the hood and opened it carefully and indeed there was a big fire melting away at the engine. The lady who stopped to help us said that she saw flames underneath our car when she was driving behind or around us. Her dad is a fireman and insists that she carry a fire extinguisher in her car. So, she sprayed the whole can on our engine and the fire went out. Then, another guy stopped by and he had a fire extinguisher also. I guess when I get another car, I will keep one in the trunk. It sure came in handy. So now my car is at the towing company in Sutherlin. It's beyond fixing and I just sent them the title to my car and said good bye to my faithful friend for all these years. The towing company will turn the car over to the junk yard for other people to pick at the spare parts. I still can't believe that I don't have a car anymore.

Now for the fun part. We called Barry's brother Tony to come and rescue us. He just got a 1997 Mitsubishi Montero and he drove from Newport to get us. Barry and I were too embarrassed to call either of our parents. We thought we could make a road trip all by ourselves. We had to wait four hours at the local Dairy Queen for Tony to get us. Then, we all drove to Reno and got there at about 1:30 in the morning. Sunday we drove around town and found the locations of the three schools that I was going to interview at. We also looked at downtown Reno and walked around the casinos. Once you have seen one casino, you have seen them all. Reno looks and feels like a smaller version of Las Vegas. Monday I had two interviews and they went well. Tuesday I had one interview and then we started to drive back to Oregon that afternoon. I got a phone call from the school where I interviewed at second. The principal offered me the full time kindergarten job. She wants me to start on Monday, October 8th!! Barry and I are going to be giving a couple days notice at work and start packing the apartment. We are going to get a moving truck this weekend and drive to Reno on Sunday. We don't even have a place to live yet, but while we were there, we did look at several apartments. Hopefully, we will find something nice really fast. So now, I have a new job, a new apartment, a new car, and a new baby to look forward too. Hey, "Life Comes at You Fast" saying is appropriate here. I'm exhausted just thinking about everything that I have to do in just a few days. It will all be worth it because I am so much happier being a teacher. Home is where my husband and my things are. As long as I have Barry and a teaching job in Reno, it will be home. I will sure miss the green Oregon Coast and my monthly trips to visit Mom and Dad, Tiffany, Rhiannon, Ryder, and Racer. Everyone can come and visit after we get settled in. Maybe next summer when my baby is born, we can have a family reunion at Lake Tahoe. It's an idea. I'll write more soon.