The Day My Wedding Dress Almost Burned

One would asssume that my first blog post after my wedding would be about my wedding. But I'm afraid my life is too fast paced for that to be the most recent major event....

Jacob, my husband (!!!!), and I were headed back home to Dallas, excited to be home tonight! Little did we realize the adventure that would interrupt our plans.

Driving down the interstate, I heard an odd clicking sound. "Jacob," I asked, "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, I don't think it's anything to be worried about."
At THAT moment, my car started losing speed. To the point that I was cruising off the interstate at 25mph.
"Hey Jacob. I think that clicking sound WAS something to worry about!" I teased.

We stopped at a gas station and Jacob excused himself to the restroom before we got to the car problems. "Jacob," I called him back, "there seems to be smoke coming from under the hood."
"Well go ahead and pop it."
As we peered over the engine, we saw fire!

I ran into the gas station screaming "MY CAR IS ON FIRE!!!!!"
The man brought me a fire extinguisher to which I replied, "PUT IT OUT PUT IT OUT!!!" By this time the small flame had erupted into something that if on firewood surrounded by stones in the setting in which you would desire a bonfire, would be exciting, out of my engine, however, terrifying.

Jacob grabbed the extinguisher and put out the fire.
But it came back.
So Jacob put it out again.
It did not come back.
Jacob sprayed it again for good measure.

Apparently something had been wrong with the fuel line and the fuel was squirting out under the hood and igniting as it went.
But when we took it to the mechanics, he said that was the only damage and replaced our fuels line. $200 and 5 hours later we were back on the road. Lucky, huh?

Never before have I driven being afraid of my car. Afraid of the road, the rain, stupid people, yes, but never my own car.

After all the stress of the day, I didn't want to stop for the night but get back to Dallas and be home already!!

So we decided to stop at BestBuy to get a new stereo for my car (it had broken a few weeks back) so we could have some entertainment to keep us going.

Pulling off the interstate, we came to a stop getting ready to turn for best buy when flames started billowing out from under my hood.

We jumped out of the car. There was no gas station near by. Jacob ran to a nearby store hoping it would have an extinguisher. It didn't. They called 911.
Meanwhile I grabbed my purse and my wedding dress out of the car and got back.
When Jacob returned he sent me further back.
Sirens punctuated my hysterical sobs.
When the police arrived, I cried, "Why isn't he putting out the fire?"
When the fire fighters arrived, I repetitively sob, "I want it to go out. Make it go out."
After the fire fighters got the flames subdued and tried to get into the hood to saturate the inside, I stopped sobbing and said, "why are they attacking my hood with axes? Are they trying to get inside? I can go pop the hood if they don't know how..."

The firefighters said they were able to save most of our stuff, that we were lucky our stuff is fine and that we are fine.

I will never forget that fear of my car. Those flames. Sitting from afar, I could see lit gas dripping onto the asphalt and chunks of my car falling out as it's supports burned through. And I will also not forget a single one of those idiots who pulled up right beside my BILLOWING, FLAMING, EXPLODING car. Stay back until the light turns, people! Come on!

Sobbing (I did a lot of that), I asked Jacob what we were going to do. He said he didn't know yet. Then I remembered that I am the planner in this family! So I pulled myself together and said, "Officer, we're going to need a tow truck and car rental place."

A few hours later, after my very first police car ride, Jacob and I had reloaded our stuff into our rental (being frequently amazed and grateful at all the things not burned, like my guestbook tree, and the canvas painting my sister made for me) and were on the road again. We stopped for the night in Monroe, LA and arrived in Dallas without further incident noon on Thursday.

The Puterbaughs came over to help up unload our car and now I have a very full living room and no more road trips on the horizon. Thank God.