Another lesson learned the hard way

Seems I have a lot of these living in the middle of nowhere/on a farm.

My lesson on Tuesday was: Just because you have remote start doesn't mean that you can always start your vehicle while standing in the comfort of your heated home.

Ummmm, isn't that the point of the remote start?

My story starts on Tuesday morning. I'm getting ready to go to work and I know it was SUPER cold the night before (like -25). So I go start my truck with the remote start, through the window and it starts ok. I finish getting ready, put my coat on and look out the window. The windshield isn't defrosted, so I'm thinking "Man, it must have been REALLY cold last night."

I go out there, load the dogs in the back, and get inside. I turn on the key, fully expecting the air to start blowing away and defrosting the windows. Nothin. I turn the truck off, then turn it back on. Still nothing. You've GOT to be kidding me! The heater/defroster isn't working! I turn the heater off and I can hear the fan wind down. Ok, I turn it up again. Still nothing.

At this point I'm pretty much realizing that I'm not going to get this thing going and I need to figure out a solution. I know, I'll roll down my window and drive over to our farmyard and borrow my mother-in-law's car since she's out of town for work. I know it's going to be a little cold (-22!!) but I can do that for a 1/2 mile.

Well friends, that was the coldest half mile of my life!

I try to roll my window down. Can't. It's frozen shut. I try the ol' "run a credit card around the outside edge of the window to get it unstuck trick." Still nothing. Man, it's really frozen shut! The only thing I have left to do is to drive while I hold the door open and stick my head out to see the road. Mind you, everything is still white since it's covered with snow. So here I go, driving down my road, in -22 degrees half hanging out of my truck. Thankfully I got to the farmyard with no troubles, except for a frozen body. I got the other car started and went on my merry little way.

I called the service manager at the car dealership and he said, "It has to be above a certain temperature for the heater to work when you use the remote start." Huh...bet ya Chevy didn't think of that. Well, in fact I know they didn't or else I wouldn't be having this problem, now would I?

So again, another lesson learned the hard way. I also found out that the temp with windchill was down to -58 degrees. Ummmm, YUCK! No wonder the heater didn't work! I wouldn't want to work in that temperature either! So I grudgingly put on my boots/coat/scarf/hat/mittens and started my truck manually yesterday morning. UGH.

Good news is that it's up to 25 degrees today...yes, to me that is warm :)