I lost my cell phone due to a series of unfortunate incidents last Saturday.....

It all started from our neighbor wanted to borrow our boat. We don't have any problem with that. The only thing was we wanted to make sure it runs ok because we haven't taken out our boat this year because there's no water in the lake we usually go to. Last few winters have been pretty dry and there's no such a thing "rain" during summer here.

Anyway, we drove to the river instead of lake this time. Everything was going very well. We launched a boat, cruising down the river, looking at gorgeous homes along the river.... Then, my DH felt something is wrong with engine and looked back. Huge smoke was coming out from engine area!! He stopped the boat immediately and opened the cover. OMG..... I don't know what happened, but we knew something went really wrong.

Another boat noticed smoke and approached us and asked if we are ok. Guess what my DH said? "Oh, we are fine." I was like...."NO, WE ARE NOT!!" But, I thought he might have some idea how to go back to the boat launch. Naaah. He just didn't want to ask for help. Damn.

We managed to temporarily park at the private dock of one of those homes by the river. Now, my DH wanted me to look for someone to help us. Geee.... I was really upset and told him "Next time, if someone offers to help, say YES!!"

Well, long story short, I ended up calling 911, and they said they will contact coast guard and will call us back. We waited for a while, but there's no sign of call back. So, finally, I waved an orange flag to send a "help!" signal to other boat, and one boat was nice enough to give us a tow to nearest marina.

About 20 minutes into being towed, a coast guard boat drove by. We told them that our boat broke down and need a help. Guess what they did? They gave us a business card of towing service and told us to call them!! What??

So, cost guard drove away and we are still being towed by other nice boat owner. They told us they will leave us at the sandy beach area where we can wait for towing service to come. Fine.

I called towing service and the guy told me that the towing person will call me back when they come near the area. In a mean time, we arrive at the sandy beach area and my DH asked me to go out of the boat and hold it. I saw a bunch of people enjoying a summer day there and the beach looked shallow, about the knee height. So, I went into the water thinking it's shallow. I sunk. Completely. It was so deep I could not even reach the bottom of the river. Well, I had my cell phone in my pocket and it was gone because I had to wiggle my body to come up to surface.

Now, no cell phone, and I was still waiting for towing service to call me back. How can they reach me now? I wanted to cry.

I asked a teenage boy who was standing there and had a cell phone if I can use his phone. Thank God, he was nice enough to let me use his phone. I called the towing service back and told them to call the new number.

Then, the guy at the towing service told me "By the way, we only take cash." Ha?? I didn't even think about how much the service was. So, I asked him "Well, we don't have that much cash with us. By the way, how much is it?" "It's $120 an hour." I almost fainted. On top of that, he tells me it will take about two hours for them to get here, and the clock starts when they leave. OMG..... I told the guy, just call me when he gets near the area.

Fast forward one hour and half later, finally, the phone rang. It's the towing service guy. "We won't make it there. Our boat broke, too." I said, "That's fine. Thank you anyway." And hang up the phone. I walked over to people who have their boat by the beach and asked "Can anybody give us a tow? We will pay for your gas!!"

One guy was really nice to give us a tow and we could come to the boat launch. But, what a day.... For some reason, I don't believe towing service's boat breaking down, but it's ok. It saved us at least $300 or so.

Now, we are waiting for boat repair place to give us an estimate to fix it. Oh, by the way, our extended warranty expired last year. Sucks....