To sue or not to sue

After last weekend's road trip to Vegas fiasco, a lot of people have been telling us we should sue the rental car company and/or Jeep. I don't know though. I don't want to be one of those people who sue for no reason. As long as we aren't liable for the car and the company compensates us for what was lost in the fire, I'll be happy. I have to admit, the thought of suing is pretty appealing. We did miss out on a Vegas vacation. We could've potentially been hurt in the fire or ran over or hit on the freeway as we ran away from the burning car. And the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't get to see my uncle one last time. My uncle has been very sick for the past few months and it's getting down to the end for him. He's been in the ICU for a week and a half now. That weekend we would've been in Vegas would've been the last time I would've seen him alive. That lost opportunity right there is priceless.

Let it burn

We never made it to Vegas. 30 minutes outside of Ontario this happened:


We didn't get in an accident or anything. We were just driving along on our merry way when the car started to slow down. At first we thought it was a flat tire cause we heard a popping noise when the car started to slow down. We tried to pull over, but the car wouldn't move. Then the hood popped open and flames started coming out of the front passenger side of the hood. We all got out of the car and ran to the side of the freeway. Some truck drivers stopped and called 911 for us. The CHP and the local fire and police departments came out too. They were all super nice and very accomodating to us. They really did all that they could to help us out. They called rental car companies for us and gave us rides.

Thankfully everyone got out safe AND it was a rental car, so nothing was lost. We got all of our stuff out safely, too. Unfortunately our trip got ruined. We were stuck in Hesperia with no car and all the local rental companies were closed. We have a friend that lives in San Bernardino and we called him to pick us up. We spent the night at his house and he drove us home the next day. According to the CHP on site, Chrysler jeeps are prone to catching on fire. Keep that in mind if you ever plan on purchasing one or if you're renting a car and they try to give you one - don't take it! The car we had was a Patriot and we were told by the company that it was only 4 months old. So a brand new car caught on fire for no apparent reason. This was NOT good times.

California Wild fires

It's been awhile since the wild fires, but I still wanted to post about it. The fires began Sunday night. Early Monday morning I left for my trip to the East Coast. I left before we realized how bad the fires were. Homes just 3 miles from my house were evacuated. Being so far away from your home may be in danger is so scary. You are helpless to do anything. It was so scary, it dampned our trip. All I wanted to do was stay in the hotel and watch CNN. Looking back at it though, the fires weren't that close to my house. Although they were evacuating, it was just a precaution. I was told by friends and family that the smoke was really really bad. They said it was like it was raining ashes.

I was lucky enough to be spared from the fires. Many families lost their homes and businesses. Please help them out and donate if you can.

http://64.165.23.58/firerelief.aspx