Let me start off this blog by saying that I'm a pretty good driver; I've never gotten a ticket, never been pulled over and I've never been involved in any type of accident. With that said, two nights ago I ended up stuck between the railroad tracks off Middlefield Road in Redwood City.

I was coming from the Draeger’s Market (Menlo Park store) sampling of GoGo Juice to pick up Betty (the founder) when I realized that I wasn't driving on pavement anymore. 

All I can remember is making a left turn, bumping around then realizing what was happening. I tried to make a quick turn to get out of there and found myself too close to some big rocks so I backed up.  Another bump made me think “oh there are the tracks again!" I tried to drive forward, and nothing, the car wouldn't move. Then I tried going on reverse, nothing! Ahh! To make matters worse the railroad arms start going down and the lights start to flash.  My first thought was to get out of the car. To my relief it was a false alarm - no train was approaching. So, I step out of the car, check out the damage, which thankfully wasn't horrible and called Betty.  Oh, did I mention that I was driving her car?

So I called her, scared and concerned. How am I supposed to tell the owner of a beautiful white Mercedes that it's stuck in between some railroad tracks? No time to think, so I just called her and explained the situation as best I could. Thankfully, I was within walking distance to where I was supposed to pick her up.  So, she comes and after a bit a really nice man comes up to us and offers to help us.  A friend of his comes and both men try to help move the car off the tracks. Then, a very good looking CHP officer sees the situation and stops too.

With a little smirk in his face he asks, “What happened?” He immediately calls for a tow truck as we were in a “critical situation”.  As we wait another very good looking officer stops by to asses the situation. As shaky as I am, I manage to make chit chat and come to find out that similar things have happened to others. Phew! I didn't feel as bad anymore, plus being next to two very good looking men, how could I?

One of the officer leaves and I start explaining why I was in Redwood City. This, of course, lead to us talking about GoGo Juice. By that time, Betty is already there and gives him a bottle.  Another California Highway Patrol officer, who wasn’t bad to look at either, shows up and Betty gives him a bottle as well. So, there we are for a good 40 minutes waiting for the tow truck to show up talking to two officers about GoGo Juice with a car stuck in the railroad tracks and two police cars around us hoping the railroad crossing signals don’t go off again. It was quite a sight to see I will admit. Finally the tow truck comes and the car is pulled out. What a night!

As we were driving home, I realized how fortunate I was that nothing worse happened and how true the saying, “If there’s a problem with a solution, why worry about it? And if it has no solution, then why worry about it?” Thankfully, our problem had a simple solution and Betty and I made it home safely.

Cinthia (Intern)