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Just a travel day back home. Fun stuff, yo.
| Friday,
19 September 2003 |
|
| 8:00am | The alarm went off, and Tubby promptly unplugged it and tossed it into his suitcase. |
| 8:24am | The Large One rolled out of bed for the final time, did this and that, and we began getting ready for our 9am departure. |
| 8:53am | Tubby and I haul most of our crap down to the car. What neither of us can understand is how the trip that began with two bags and the computer bag has multiplied into *five* bags plus the computer bag. Certainly, I didn't help by getting a new hat, but I'm wearing it, so it's not even amongst one of those five bags. |
| 9:02am | We checked out, met up with Jay, got Rachel in tow, and headed out the door, right on schedule. |
| 9:10am | Tubby pulled into Chevron to fill up the Unnamed Expedition, and as we arrived, they were changing the price for the better -- from $1.999 to $1.979... but hey, two cents is two cents. |
| 9:19am | We met up with Rachel at McDonalds, and after Jay got a #1 and Tubby and I a #2, were on our way. (Rachel was in her own car, and we didn't compare menu items; sorry.) |
| 11:32am | Tubby led the charge into the Chevron near the Frazier Park exit, to fill up on Diet Pepsi. No one questioned this good idea being a good idea. Yea! |
| 12:44pm | We stopped near Kettleman City for lunch (again at McDonalds). |
| 2:21pm | As we veered from I-5 to Highway 152 westbound to complete the final leg of the journey, Tubby noticed the clock is no longer working. Odd, huh. Then, I point out the battery needle is on the bottom, sort of marking an undercharging situation. Then we see the temperature and miles-per-gallon displays go dark. |
| 2:29pm | Yessir, it appears that alternator replacement on Day 6 didn't last but three days. Next to go is the balance of the gauge power, including speedometer, tachometer, as well as the other displays for mileage (aka odometer). We're running dark, and no turn signals or dome lights are functioning, either. As we're climbing a hill, we now find the car is losing power, and we're being passed by broken-down Hondas. Tubby is already on the phone with the shop back home to arrange to have the car looked at tomorrow, since it's apparent now we're going to have to be towed back home. |
| 2:31pm | Tubby tries to take us from the #1 (far left) lane to the #3 (far right) land to the shoulder, but we find it's not big enough for a car; he gets us back to the center divider, where the car comes to a final stop. (Oddly enough, those two lane changes were the only time all afternoon that there was no traffic coming in our direction.) |
| 2:41pm | There's no phone coverage where we stopped, so Jay, Tubby and I hiked the half mile or so to the top of the hill to get coverage. Calls were made to family/friends to update them, once AAA was called for a tow truck and the shop confirmed the appointment tomorrow. |
| 3:52pm | The 30 minutes dispatch turned into a bit longer, but Shawnie finally arrived, and the beast was loaded onto the tow truck's flatbed. |
| 5:40pm | We arrived back in town, dropped the disabled Expedition off at the shop, and made our way home. We'll find out tomorrow when they open what the total damage is, and then on Monday sort out what the shop in Anaheim is going to do to honor their 12 month/12,000 mile warranty on the part that lasted 72 hours. But all in all, I'd still call it a nice week, lots of new faces and more time with familiar ones, and all things considered, the few low points could have been far worse, far lower, and far more frequent. And yes, I'm still all revved up for the Don't Tread on Me trip starting on Wednesday -- especially after our usual, familiar shop (run by Scott) does the repair, the tire rotation, and the usual pre-trip car service I have the boy get before a road trip. |