No Brakes...Holy Crap!!!

On my way home from the workshop in NJ, one of the bridges to Long Island was closed, so all traffic was diverted into the city, through the Lincoln tunnel. I was in pure stopped traffic for about 10 minutes when I decided to hit the trip meter and see how far I was going. Turns out I went a whopping 5 miles in 1 hour. That is nuts! Especially after a long, draining day! I just wanted to be in bed.

Finally, traffic gets moving and I feel like I’m getting somewhere. I’m about to enter the tunnel. Ok, I’m almost through the city, it should be smooth sailing from here. Traffic at the beginning of the tunnel was moving nicely for a little while and then I saw the line of red taillights light up in front of me. Luckily I began breaking early…or tying to break that is. The brake pedal went completely to the ground and I was not stopping.

Holy Shit! I’m going to hit this car in front of me! Quickly, I pulled the E-brake, hoping to stop….but no! The car kept plowing forward at the same speed and the car in front of me was approaching quickly. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I can’t have a pile up accident in London’s car! In a tunnel of all places! This cannot be happening to me right now! Luckily the left lane was being cleaned and it was vacant. I jerked the wheel plowing over the rubber poles that divided the lanes and threw the car into park. It finally stopped as several cars honked their horns at me. I didn’t crash. Holy shit! I didn’t crash!

Now, what to do? How do I call London and tell her that the Mustang has taken a shit, once again. It needs to move her down to Austin, TX in a few weeks; she can’t have it break down right now! And I’m stuck in a freakin’ tunnel in the middle of New York City. What the hell?

I catch London right before she was about to fall asleep. She says to get it towed to the nearest shop and her and Pat would start driving to the city to get me. A nice gentlemen stopped traffic and asked me what had happened. He then continued on to inform the cops at the end of the tunnel that I would not be moving and needed assistance. The cops hooked up the car and towed it out of the tunnel. I then had to sit on the side of the road and wait for a real tow truck to take me to a shop. This is a time I really wish I had AAA! So, $94 later and 2 tow trucks rides I made it to a Pep Boys. London and Pat arrived right after I got there so I didn’t have to sit in the empty parking lot. I could tell I wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods and it was about 2, maybe 3am at this point, so I was relieved.

London was happy I was okay and happy I didn’t crash the car…but I know she was quite upset it was non-drivable. Her car is like her best friend, it’s taken her around this country twice and then some. Plus, with the big move to Austin coming up…it was a horrible time to break down. She'll probably need to rearrange her shoots for the next few days too. What a huge mess!

I was still a little shaken up from the whole experience when we got back to the house in Northport. I was awake until 5:30am. All I could think about is how lucky I am that the brakes went out when they did. Next to an open lane, in slow traffic, out of the rain….any other place I had been driving could have led to a real nasty accident. It was definitely a time to reflect and count my blessings.

I hope the Mustang is okay and won’t cost too much to fix! London is awaiting a call from Pep Boys to see what the real damage is. We’ll probably have to cancel our shoots this the morning too…ugh! I hate canceling, especially when I’m counting on the money. Bummer man!

Keeping my fingers crossed for an easy fix… London needs her Mustang!