#TBT: That Day the Q Van Blew Up on the Turnpike and I Almost Died… Or Did I? [VIDEO]

It was a frigid cold morning a few weeks ago as Chris Low and I hopped in the Q Van to head to Lewiston for a live broadcast from Metro PCS. There was a little warning light on the dash, but that was for low tire pressure I would later find out.

As we got on the turnpike and started to get up to speed, we heard a "POP" coming from under the hood. Immediately I noticed that we had lost heat, but the van was still driving fine. Then, I looked out the rearview mirror, and that's when I knew something was terribly wrong. What appeared to be smoke was billowing out from the engine!!

"If only we can make it to the Gray service Plaza" I said to Chris. That's when I noticed the "smoke" starting to fill up the van, so I of course feared the worst and assumed that we were seconds from blowing up.

Braving the "smoke" for another mile or so, we made it to the rest stop and called back to the station for a quick rescue. Within a few minutes, we were safe and back on our way to the broadcast. (In a different vehicle, of course.)

The van was towed back to Portland where it was fixed, but here's where it gets funny: the "POP" turned out to be just a busted radiator hose, and the "smoke" was nothing more than steam from the engine.

So we weren't seconds from death as I had first thought, and we most certainly were not on fire!