Stranded on the Freeway

Coming back from work I got stranded on the freeway. The car decided to quit on me without previous notice, and it's not like I didn't feed the sucker, I had just put some gas on it two days earlier. The sad part is that the car isn't even mine, it was being loaned to me by my son-in-law and daughter as mine was leaking antifreeze.

Since I didn't get back home on time my daughter had to miss school and that really sucked.

Luckily for me I was driving on bumper to bumper traffic and I was on the lane closest to the exits. When the car stalled I had enough momentum to get in the shoulder and park the sucker. The previous exit was not even a mile away so I started walking towards it. When I got to it and I turned around I realized that all I had to do was just jump over the fence and I could have saved about a mile of walking. Well, it's not like I don't need the exercise.

So I knew I had run out of cash two days before and I had left my cash card to my daughter because I had send her the night before to get some groceries. Well, No problem the Whataburger in the corner has a pay phone, I will just call my chica collect... wrong! See as most of you know I don't own a cell phone so how was I supposed to know that you cannot place a collect call to a cell phone.

Time to apply plan "B". I go inside the burger joint and spot a couple. "Excuse me, but you think maybe you can let me use your cell phone, I got stranded on the freeway and I have no coins, and basically I'm screwed because if I don't get in touch with my loved ones they'll never know where I am, please remember that this is a desert and..." OK I didn't tell them all that but I did ask them for a phone and the guy pulled out his and handed it to me. So I call mi chica and it rings, and rings, and rings and shit I realize she won't answer because she doesn't know this number.

Well "Thank you, sir" I said but she didn't answer. I handed back the phone and walked outside again. I went to the pay phone again and try my mom's number (hers is not a cell phone). "Sorry, but we got no reply, please try another number" came the automated voice.

OK, think Joe. No money, no plastic, no car, middle of no where and no way to communicate with the world, think. I know let me try my mom's house again, yes I learned to be persistent. So I went through the automated voices, pressed the keypad as instructed and "Yo, dude. What up" came my brother's voice. "Hey you answered the phone dude, cool!" I told him. He said yeah my mom went to get me, she said she didn't understand what the computerized voice was saying but one thing was for sure, somewhere in the middle she heard the word "Jose" so she went to get me.

As I'm explaining to him that I was stranded and that I was all alone in the desert with no water, no money, no plastic, etc. etc. etc. the nice man from inside the restaurant came out saying that he had a phone call for me and handed me his phone.

I am saved, mi chica came to the rescue, she told the guy that she received a call from that phone and that she wasn't sure why, he said that's because I lent it to the person that called you, let me go get him. When I answered she still didn't know it was me, so her first question was, who's this?

Well, 35 minutes later she pulled in to the parking lot and right after that my sons in law pulled in too. I gave them the keys and I rode with mi chica, they went to get the car and we went home.

All this cost me a little bit over an hour of my time and a free phone call from someone else' phone, and it cost my mom probably a buck because they did accept the collect call but it was still a far cry from a monthly phone bill of $70.00 dollars.

But for a tiny moment there the feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me as I had no water, no money, no plastic, no car, no phone, and I was in the middle of the desert (Phoenix is a city but it's still in the desert)and soon it would get dark.

Just kiddin', I just wrote the previous paragraph to add a little drama to my adventure.