Tuesday, September 18, 2007

What I Learned Today

Early this afternoon I was driving the truck back to my house after stopping at the grocery store up on the highway. Since the street I was traveling on was at a downward pitch I had my foot on the brake petal to keep my speed under 25MPH. This became annoying so I decided to shift the trunk into a lower gear. Now, I can be dyslectic when it comes to left and right so when I moved the gear lever, instead of moving to the right out of Drive and through Third over to Second, I moved it to the left through Neutral and over to Reverse. I happen to glance down as I did so and the second I dropped it into Reverse, I popped it back out*. The truck engine lugged a bit but seem to be OK.

After I popped it out of Reverse I pulled the gear shift over to Second and dropped it in. Nothing happened. The truck did not seem to slow down. I stepped on the brake and the truck slowed down. It also drifted to the right so I pulled the steering wheel to the left. The wheel reacted as if the power steering wasn't working. I pulled harder. Still nothing. That is when I realized the power steering wasn't working because the engine had shut down when I tried to put it into reverse. The truck was still drifting toward the curb so I quickly stepped on the gas petal while turning the engine key. It wouldn't start. I floored the petal and turned the key again. The engine sputtered to life and I eased the wheel over to the left and the truck followed me back out to the middle of the street.

So, what did I learn today?
1. If you accidentally put your Chevy truck in reverse while driving the engine will turn off.
2. When the engine turns off so does the power steering.
3. When you loose the power steering you can no longer control the truck.
4. So, try not to put your truck in reverse while driving.

*This left/right thing does not affect the quickness of my reactions.

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