Thank G-d for shluchim! (and firemen, and other people)

I got into the car on Friday afternoon, soaking wet, with dough in my hair. A flour fight, AND water fight both on the same day is NOT a good idea. Don't try it.

We were headed to San Diego for Shabbos, all 8 counselors of us, in our little 7 seater van. Don't ask how we fit, it magically expands for all of us. G-d helps.

So there we were, on our way, excited to be going to S. Diego for Shabbos. It was supposed to take about 3 hours, and Shabbos started at 7, so if we got there at 6, there would be plenty of time to shower, and get settled where we were staying. We were fine with time. Or so we thought.

5 minutes into the trip, we were all fast asleep, besides for the driver, B"H, and me, who was happily snapping pictures of all the sleeping girls, out of boredom. Our Rabbi called us like every 5 minutes, to make sure we were ok, and that we were in the carpool lane, and that we were going as fast as we could. He told us to take the toll road, it would go faster. Bad idea.

I finally fell asleep. I woke up, and smelled a bad smell in the car, and immediately checked my cabbage salad which I brought for lunch, but forgot to eat. Maybe it went bad in the heat. But no, it smelled ok. Ok so not that. Then I realized I smelled burning rubber. In my woozy sleepy state, I couldn't figure out what was happening, but I noticed the driver sounded anxious. I thought she was driving off the road, and rolled my eyes in annoyance. But then I saw smoke billowing out of the hood, and thought, nope, we are in much bigger trouble.

We pulled the car over. Everyone was screaming out instructions. We got out of the car, I told them we should walk away from the car as far as we could go, in case it blew up or something. So that's what we did. Imagine 8 girls, in camp t-shirts, standing on the side of the highway, near a car billowing out with smoke. Would you stop for us, and make sure we were ok? Ya, I thought so. Well, funny, cuz no one stopped. One guy honked his horn at us, one guy screamed at us, someone else laughed at us. But they all drove by, and didn't stop. How rude.

(Ok one guy stopped. A frum guy. Asked us if we were ok, and where we were headed. We said we would figure it out, and we were going to S. Diego, but didn't look like we'd actually get there. So, thank you, mystery man. If you are reading this, know that we got home ok.)

So Then a fire truck pulled up. And the fun began. 2 of the girls were going to the car to get their luggage out. Really. I think I'd rather they were whole and safe, then have luggage, and go near a smoking car.

The firemen approached the car, checked under the hood, looked around, then came over to us. So I asked, do you know what's wrong with it? And he said, no, but you can't drive it. I laughed. Really. That much I figured out all by myself!

I called the Rabbi, and for once, he didn't answer! I called the other Rabbi, and told him we have an intsy bintsy problem, that we are stuck on the side of the highway, and what did he think we should do. Oh boy. So my Rabbi called me back, spoke to the fireman, spoke to me, and we still didn't know what we were gonna do about shabbos. By that time, we didn't have enough time to get to S. Diego before shabbos. Rabbi said he'll call around, and let me know.

Meanwhile, a tow truck pulled up. The fireman said they'd tow our car off the highway, to a parking lot, and we could decide from there what to do. Oh, and in middle of all this, we were snapping picture after picture, of us near the car, the firetruck, us near the firetruck, ya you get my drift. When there's trouble... pull out your camera, and document it! The fireman asked us if this was cooler than where we were headed. Definitely! Who else can say they got stuck on the side of a highway, and had a firetruck come help? Wait. It gets better.

So 2 girls went in the tow truck, and the rest of us, (6 girls, if you were counting) squished into the firetruck. My 1st time in a firetruck. It was cool. They drove us to a parking lot, and then let us off, with our car. They made sure we were ok, gave us the number of the fire station just in case, then were gonna drive off.

But they heard we were planning on going to Mexico on Sunday. Ya, that was only if we got to S. Diego, and since we obviously were not gonna get there, Mexico was off too. But they were worried, apparently it's not safe for 8 girls to go alone to Mexico, especially now, theres more violence there. They asked if we were bringing guys with us. Um, no. Not exactly. He said he didn't want it on his conscience if we went, and then he found out later that 8 girls got kidnapped, or worse, in Mexico. So we thanked him for his concern, and assured him we weren't going to go.

Now we were stuck with a car, that we couldn't figure out what to do with, and no place to go for Shabbos. I asked the tow truck driver where we were, he said, 'San Juan Capistrano'. I repeated it 5 times, and even wrote it down, so I'd remember it. Interesting name.

Called the Rabbi, called him back. What do you do in times of crisis? Call in the troops!! Calling all forces, calling all forces. Rabbi called the nearest shluchim, they wanted to have us, but wife was out of town, so not gonna work. Next. He found the nearest shluchim in the next town over, a place called Mission Viejo. Ya, this place is just filled with weird sounding names. They were happy to have us. Now, how to get there.

Tow truck guy said we could drive the car, but be careful, take the side roads, yadayada. Get directions, get into the car, drive to the entrance of parking lot, and... car won't go. Ask driver what's wrong, she says, the lights blinking for accelerator, it doesn't work. Not sure what the accelerator does, but pretty sure it makes the car go. Put it in reverse, try to back into parking lot. Ya, that don't work either. Uh oh. Call the shluchim. B''h, kind people that they are, he gets into 15 passenger van to come and get us.

We get out. Time to push the car!! Yay! 1st time for that too. This shabbos was a lot of firsts. Call Rabbi. What to do with car. He doesn't want to leave it in parking lot, lest it gets towed overnight. Funny, I thought we wanted it to get towed. Ok. Push the car into a parking space, (more pictures!!) ask a person in a car for a number of towing company. No help there. Run to find a phonebook. 1st store doesn't have fun. Who doesn't have a phone book?? Ok. They say liquer store has one. Run to there. No, they say. Oh, but theres one outside, by the pay phone. Ok, we are going somewhere! Get the phone book, find number for tow truck. Call it.

me:Hi, I need a tow truck please.
guy: ok, where are you?
me (give cross streets. Thank G-d I knew THAT much.)
guy: ok, what's the make of the car?
me: (hesitant silence.) Oh, um, I'm not sure.
guy: ok....where do you need to take it to?
me: (more silence.) Um, I don't know.
guy: who's car is it?
me: my bosses. I'm not near the car, and I don't drive it, so I really don't know much about it.
guy: (almost laughing.) Do you know the COLOR of the car?
me: (yay! one thing I DO know!) ya, beige. (friend is frantically whispering, no no, it's gold!) ok, no, don't know that either.
guy: really.
me: ya. so, um, would you be able to give us an estimate of how much it will be?
guy: (laughing for real.) If you can tell me the MAKE of the car, and WHERE you need to take it, then maybe I can give you an estimate!
me: ok, thank you, I'll call you back then.
guy: (laughing.) you do that!

Help full guy.

Ok, now, the shliach is here to pick us up. Call back Rabbi. Almost Shabbos for him. What to do. He says, worry about it after shabbos, just get in the car and go! Ok, what about the car? He says, leave a note saying, 'car broken, be back Saturday night.' Really. You think the car will be here then? Other girls think I'm nuts, but Rabbi always right. We leave the note, get in the car, and drive to Mission Viejo for shabbat. Half hour to go!.

Going to stay in counselors apartment. What a small world. My friends are the head counselors there for camp, but ha, they went away for shabbos. They call us, and say, we heard there were girls coming for shabbos, not too happy about it, but then we found out it was you. So have fun, enjoy, too bad we can't be there! Oh well. Too bad indeed. Definitely picked the wrong shabbos to stay here!

Call Rabbi. He's starting shabbos. B''h we now have a place for shabbos, thanks to the shluchim, Rabbi and Mrs Kantor, and Rabbi and Mrs Marcus. Thank G-d for Shluchim!

After all that, Shabbos was uneventful. A meal with the shluchim. A walk to shul in the hot sun. A bar miztva with a lime green color scheme, and good food. No, we didn't get to S. Diego for shabbos, (or to Mexico for that matter) but G-d had other plans for us. And hopefully, we fulfilled whatever we needed to, in a little town called, Mission Viejo.

After shabbos, Rabbi came to pick us up. Went to the parking lot, hesitantly, not sure if we would see the car there, or if anyone stole it, to sell for parts, or maybe we'd just find the note there, minus the car, with a thank you for the car. But low and behold!! The car was there, in one piece! Yay!

Call triple A. Towed the car. Drive back to LA. Now, counselors have no car. Drive the 15 passenger to camp? We can try. Or take the bus to camp. Or walk. We shall see. When the car will be repaired is unknown, as of now. And we are STILL not sure what's wrong with it. But it all started when we took the toll road, which was all up hill, and our little car, with all 8 girls in it, couldn't manage the load. oh well. Now we shall pray.

Moral of the story: a mentch tracht, un gut lacht. Man plans, and G-d laughs. Our story was way more fun then if we ended up in S. Diego. And of course, SHLUCHIM ARE THE BEST!!! Thank you, we can always count on you.

So that was our fun for the summer. And what did I do the whole time? I laughed. Really, what else can you do?