I’m sure everyone has had the occasional car trouble, it’s fairly common and is something that most people will experience at some point in time. However, some are just a little bit more severe than others.
This summer, mid-June, one of the hottest months in one of the states with the most severe weather, me and my sister ended up getting stranded on the side of the I-95 in Florida for three hours. Yes, this was just as miserable as it sounds. The experience was terrible, but the only thing that was worse was the complete and utter lack of help from the two separate FDOT vehicles that showed up to check out the situation.
We were heading back up to Virginia from the Florida coast, two hours into a fifteen-hour-long drive, when her coolant tube disconnected from its proper place and ended up overheating the engine to the point where it was impossible to continue on driving. We’d pulled over in under a minute, getting on the shoulder of the highway and having to park on the thin stretch of asphalt that separated us from the cars going 85 miles per hour, and the grassy hill that led down to a cow field.
The pretty palm trees from the start of the trip had long since disappeared from our sight, and I’ll admit that I was missing them pretty intensely at that point.
To say we were both panicking would be an understatement.
The two of us had never gotten into an accident like that before, she’d just turned 18 a few days before, and I’m only 20 and have a clean track record when it comes to car issues and accidents. Neither of us had any idea what was even wrong with the car at this point. We knew that we shouldn’t try to drive on it anymore, but had nowhere to go, so we were essentially stuck on the side of the road until further notice.
Then, like a beacon in the night, the first FDOT truck showed up, pulling up behind us to help, even though we’d only been out there for less than 20 minutes at that point.
He walked up, asked us what was wrong, and popped the hood to take a look when neither of us was able to give him a solid answer. He found what was causing the issue in what felt like no time. The little plastic bit that connected the coolant tubing to the engine had come undone, and that was what had been enough to completely derail our entire return trip. Something interesting that he told us was that it was good that we pulled over as fast as we did because if we’d kept driving, the lack of coolant would have burned through the entire engine. It was a fun fact to learn while still stranded on the side of the highway, that’s for sure!
Unfortunately, that was where the helpfulness ended. He asked if we had AAA and we said we weren’t sure, but we can pay for a tow, and he said alright and moved to leave, telling us that we could contact FDOT if there were any other issues.
He left without giving us a number to call back.
We got back into the car, careful to not start it lest the car explodes, and called our parents. Many tears later, both me and my sister being fed up at this point, we learned that our dad does, in fact, have AAA and that the nearest tow truck was around two hours away. The temperature at the time was a cool 90+ degrees, and the scent of hot asphalt and grit from the highway made our throat burn.
It was at this point that another, different, FDOT truck pulled up behind us, and I will admit openly that I cried a little at the sight of it.
The new man walked up to the car, asking if we needed help, and we both said “yes, yes please.” Apparently, according to him, we’d ended up breaking down during what he affectionately dubbed “engine exploding season” because it was the height of summer. He took another look at the engine and when we explained to him what the issue was, he said it wasn’t a big deal and that he could try to fix it, and we both were giddy at the idea that it could be patched up enough to be drivable.
But, alas, that is not what happened.
He ended up confirming that yes, the car was broken, and gave us the messed up plastic coolant bit back to us in a ziplock bag, along with the promise that there were towing companies nearby that could help us, before leaving.
Our disappointment was immeasurable.
We ended up alright, managing to call a towing place to pick us up an hour later after calling the non-emergency 911 line and being redirected and essentially told to fend for ourselves. But I really don’t think I’ll ever forget how unhelpful FDOT as an organization was when we were stranded, in the middle of the summer, on the side of a hot Florida interstate highway.
Neither of us called to complain in any sort of official capacity, but the way in which two different FDOT vehicles showed up and neither of them gave us the number of a towing company (we had to google ones that were close-by and cross our fingers that our phones were showing results for the right area) or even gave us a proper list of steps to do so we could resolve the situation ourselves (we had to come up with everything on the fly) was enough to entirely destroy any potential faith in the system that we had.
It was definitely an interesting road trip, not fun in the slightest, but interesting nonetheless.