So.

Wednesday, the 7th, I was heading to DFW with the Toadster ( ’31 Model A Roadster Pick Up) on the trailer, heading up for a show on Saturday. Things didn’t go as planned. Nope, my Ford F250’s transmission decided to start puking fluid and we started spraying smoke like a Mosquito Fogger.

I stopped a couple of times and poured in ATF, but it wasn’t enough. About 45 miles short of my daughter’s house, my trusty Ford couldn’t go any further. We were dead in the water, well, the convenience store parking lot.

A couple of phone calls and a wrecker was summoned and my son was on his way to pull the trailer to his sister’s house. My 6+ hour trip turned out to be about 10+ hours, but that was the worse of it. I luckily made it to a town, not dying in the middle of now where, and I was able to coast into a parking lot, not dying in the middle of the road.

Nope, it could have been worse. Yeah. It REALLY could have been worse. I could have been without money to cover the situation.  Years ago I wouldn’t have had the funds, but now I do.

It was no problem giving the tow truck guy my credit card number, even more so knowing that it’s been Debitized and I actually have money to cover the charges. On top of that, every purchase on my credit card earns me 1.5% cash back. So, the tow charges will get me a little change back.

Lauren Gruetman recently published a podcast, HOW TO HANDLE AN EXPENSIVE EMERGENCY – EPISODE 029, discussing a financial emergency she and her husband had to deal with and the highlight “How our emergency fund completely took the stress out of it.” I totally understand what she’s saying, as our emergency fund has taken the stress out of my transmission situation, as well as medical expenses, and other stuff.

(By the way, you should check out the podcast and Lauren’s other great stuff at http://www.laurengreutman.com/)

I had money to pay for towing. I have money to pay for rebuilding the transmission. With that, I have peace of mind and I haven’t lost sleep over it. The only issue I have to deal with is getting back up 350+ miles to get my truck and Toadster back home.

Oh well. It will happen.

So, I can’t say enough about having an emergency fund. It sure takes a load off. Now, I’m gonna have to put money back into it, but that’s okay. That’s what’s gotta be done.

So, what are you doing to get a little peace of mind?  I hope it’s an Emergency Fund.