A Random Adventure and Walking....
I'm sure this will lead to me finally writing down my rant on internal combustion engines, but not now.
My son was part of a cub scout group that got to hold a "camp-in" inside Space Center Houston. We got a hotel for the rest of us and planned to make a long weekend/mini-vacation out of it. Oh, the best laid plans...
There were a couple of warning signs, but i of course ignored them. On the drive from Dallas to Houston, the rear window on the suburban was increasingly covered with grime. Just road yuck, right? Then after we stopped in Madisonville for a short break, we were getting back onto the freeway and the engine revved pretty high ... just getting into passing gear, right?
oh if only
We stopped at the Hotel near Johnson Space Center and unloaded our stuff and my wife took my son over to the Space Center with the other kids. She called and said the transmission was grinding.... yikes.
What she called grinding was really revving, but no matter, it was not good. The transmission was acting funky, but other than revving and shifting late, it was drivable. Probably just low on fluid. Check the fluid. Fluid level is OK. Check again later - still OK. Hmmmm.
I had it in my head we'd get up this AM, go pick up my son at the Space Center, take the tour and then stop at an auto parts store for trnasmission fluid or get the problem diagnosed if anybody were open
oh if only
after loading our 3 1/2 tons of stuff in suburban in a rush, we started the truck, put it in reverse, and.... absolutely nothing. put it in drive, revved it up and crept forward about a furlong per fortnight
going nowhere
The irony of all this is that we bought a brand new van in September for our family trips but we're getting a lift installed and it's been in that state for more than 2 months (that's another completely too long and frustrating saga). Bottom line is we're stranded in Clear Lake despite owning a brand new van and we're having to pay for hotel, food, getting the suburban back to dallas and eventually repair costs....
I guess it is a mini vacation ... what fun.
at least we have free breakfast, internet, and cable TV.
Next post will be about walking - when you're 300 miles from home without a vehicle, you suddenly find out that though everything is concrete, none of it (or very little) is for walking on.
My son was part of a cub scout group that got to hold a "camp-in" inside Space Center Houston. We got a hotel for the rest of us and planned to make a long weekend/mini-vacation out of it. Oh, the best laid plans...
There were a couple of warning signs, but i of course ignored them. On the drive from Dallas to Houston, the rear window on the suburban was increasingly covered with grime. Just road yuck, right? Then after we stopped in Madisonville for a short break, we were getting back onto the freeway and the engine revved pretty high ... just getting into passing gear, right?
oh if only
We stopped at the Hotel near Johnson Space Center and unloaded our stuff and my wife took my son over to the Space Center with the other kids. She called and said the transmission was grinding.... yikes.
What she called grinding was really revving, but no matter, it was not good. The transmission was acting funky, but other than revving and shifting late, it was drivable. Probably just low on fluid. Check the fluid. Fluid level is OK. Check again later - still OK. Hmmmm.
I had it in my head we'd get up this AM, go pick up my son at the Space Center, take the tour and then stop at an auto parts store for trnasmission fluid or get the problem diagnosed if anybody were open
oh if only
after loading our 3 1/2 tons of stuff in suburban in a rush, we started the truck, put it in reverse, and.... absolutely nothing. put it in drive, revved it up and crept forward about a furlong per fortnight
going nowhere
The irony of all this is that we bought a brand new van in September for our family trips but we're getting a lift installed and it's been in that state for more than 2 months (that's another completely too long and frustrating saga). Bottom line is we're stranded in Clear Lake despite owning a brand new van and we're having to pay for hotel, food, getting the suburban back to dallas and eventually repair costs....
I guess it is a mini vacation ... what fun.
at least we have free breakfast, internet, and cable TV.
Next post will be about walking - when you're 300 miles from home without a vehicle, you suddenly find out that though everything is concrete, none of it (or very little) is for walking on.
posted by Rob at 1:45 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like you're living one of my recurring nightmares. They say old cars are great because you don't have to make payments on them and you own them. Well, too many old cars I've "owned" have turned out to own me instead with all the repair costs, wasted time breaking down, not to mention the total lack of reliablity and security they offer.
Good deal? I'm not so sure that leasing is such a bad thing...
It's time for a new Dodge Durango SLT, with leather upholstery (not that I've thought about it) :-).
RR
PS: Get one after they fixed the wheels-falling-off problem
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