Runaway

I've seen it on videos. You know, those funny shots where 

a car begins rolling down the driveway, with the driver in hot pursuit. 

It's not so funny if it happens to be your car!

On Monday we pulled into our barn drive in the RV, 

with the Jeep being towed behind. 

(This was the same day that we saw the terrible traffic back-up)

We were hot and tired. 

But, maybe it wasn't as hot as the gauge on our motorhome said it was! 

I got off the motorhome to unhitch the car, following the steps I always take.

First, chock the wheel.

(The car is one of those newfangled all-electric types.) 

Until I get in the car and go through a number of steps, the car is in neutral, and will roll. 

I opened the door and immediately knew something was wrong. 

Everything was black. 

The car was DOA.

I did try to engage the parking brake, but it is electronic as well. 

The Mister went to get his tractor and chains while I disconnected the tow bars and towing wires. 

Chains were attached to the car to pull it further up the drive to the barn,

so the plug-in battery charger could be used on the car.

As the Mister began to move the car, I grabbed the chock and turned toward the barn.

I had to move the truck that was parked where he wanted to pull the Jeep.

Then I heard some sort of expletive...maybe a few?!

The chain had broken, or slipped off, or somthin'

and the car was slowly rolling....

rollin', rollin', rollin'...

The Mister jumped off the tractor, grabbed the door,

but by the time he did that the car was moving too fast.

It was heading down our long driveway....

Unbelievably, it stayed on the drive, even with the bit of a curve.

I had visions of the Jeep impaling itself on the gate

 (more likely crumpling it into some sort of accordion shape)

It skimmed past the gate, scraping off the plastic housing of the mirror on its way by,

and on it rolled....

across the road....

Oh no! The Jeep was heading for the storm retention pond,

(not sure why they call it a pond. We have never, ever had any water in it)

which has a a fairly steep drop into the low area....

oh and a sprinkling of trees that could have done some damage as well.

The runaway car God was on our side. There is one sign between the road and the 'pond'. A warning that the retention area is environmentally sensitive. The Jeep hit the metal post of the sign, bent it a bit....

but the Jeep stopped rolling! 

A bit later, after cooling off and calming down, the Mister wandered over there with a battery.

The moment he touched the posts with the clips, the car came to life.

I was able to work through the necessary steps to get the car out of neutral, 

and drive it home. 

The bumper has a slight crease in it from the sign, and a bit of a scrape underneath.

The mirror will need replacement at some point, although it still works. 

We are puzzled as to why it appeared to have a dead battery, 

when the indicators showed a full charge when it woke up. 

These modern machines are a puzzle!