Yeah. I killed my alternator belt last Friday. When I left for work Friday morning, the power steering was shot, but everything else was working. Drove around the block and came home and Karen called her dad (who worked for Ford, and thus knows about cars), but he wasn't there so I couldn't find anything out. Decided to drive anyway, since I had no idea it was the alternator belt, nor really what an alternator belt was. After about 17 miles, the car died one system at a time. First the radio, then the RPM gauge, then the lights, then the speedometer. Luckily I was on surface streets, so I wasn't in trouble and could pull over. I called my insurance's roadside assitance, and they said a tow truck would come get me in an hour and take me to the nearest Pep Boys. So while I was waiting, Karen called, and she'd talked to her dad, and he was pretty sure it was the alternator belt. So I asked her to look up where the Pep Boys was, and started the car. The battery had regained some charge, and I made it ALMOST all the way there, stopped in the turn lane half a block from the Pep Boys, and then the tow truck came and took me the rest of the way. It was indeed the alternator belt, and it was fixed in like an hour and a half. Had lunch at some Chinese fast food place while I was waiting, then wandered around looking for a haircut place. (One wanted $18, the other wanted $50. Eeek!) Walked back past the Pep Boys and my car was sitting out front, so even though they hadn't called me yet I went in, and it was indeed done.
Oh yeah, it was raining for the first time in like forever, doubling our rainfall total for the year, but I had brought my umbrella and jacket, so all was good.
