Friday night turns into Saturday morning

I decided to go for a late night drive and inconspicuously dump my garbage bag with the chicken carcass in a public garbage can, like one in the 24-hour grocery store parking lot.

As soon as I got on the freeway, though, the car dashboard lit up with a yellow Check Engine light, a red brake light, and the cruise control light. I knew I hadn't turned on cruise control, but as my brother later told me, when Subarus report a check problem the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree.

It was after midnight! I thought about pulling off on the side of the freeway, but took the Hwy 65 and Stanford Ranch exits instead, and pulled off the road at the first opportunity, between Carls Jr and the gas station.

I parked the car, and contemplated my options. What do you do when you have car trouble at 12:30 am?  The two options that came to mind were either to sleep in the car or walk home -- neither of which seemed like good ideas. 😟

Then I got the wild idea to text a friend to see if he is awake. My friend Ben is a surgeon and has a crazy work schedule. I didn't want to call anyone that late, but thought texting wouldn't be too intrusive:

I was in luck and got a response from Ben! I think my text might have actually woken him, but like a true friend he agreed to come save me! My brother's stuff was still in the trunk, so we loaded it into Ben's truck and he followed me to the nearby AutoZone parking lot. The store was closed for the night, of course, but we left the car  with the intent of coming back and having them read the diagnostic codes in the morning.

Saturday morning, I texted my brother to let him know what was happening, and then caught an Uber to AutoZone to have them read the codes. It was a great relief to learn the codes weren't serious enough to prevent driving, so I still would be able to drive the car to my brother's house in Livermore and catch my flight from Oakland to Salt Lake today. I wouldn't have to arrange other means of transportation and have my brother's car stuck in Rocklin!

As it turned out, the wet car floor was due to another known issue that was unrelated to the chicken. But it had started me down the chain of events that led to my late night encounter with the check engine light. It was fortunate that it happened on Friday night instead of during my upcoming drive to the bay area, when it probably would have caused me to miss my flight!