Actually, it could've been worse...

Nearly ten years ago the missus and I did something a little stupid. We bought a brand new minivan. Yes, we knew we'd be losing thousands of dollars in value as soon as we drove off the lot but we wanted a car with no worries, at least for a little while. And it was truly nice to be tooling around in a new car for many, many months. Maybe even a years. But the troubles started coming in. I remember in 1999 or 2000 having the transmission overhauled to the tune of $1900. Ouch. And there's been a serpentine belt that snapped on the way home one dark night. The support arm for the alternator cracked and was about $300 to fix. Then several months ago the passenger door that had been creaking finally gave way. I chronicled that event in my previous blog. Not resolved to keep the expenses down, the ol' red Caravan pulled another rabbit out of her hat.

So I thought it a good idea to make sure she was in good working order before taking my nine year old off to camp 130 miles away. So after recently having it smogged for its DMV registration, I had the oil changed. During this procedure, the mechanic noticed that the PCV filter needed replacing and that the serpentine belt was cracked in several places (this he showed me; it was all too true). Naturally, I had those things taken care of the very next week. Finally last Friday, two days before taking my girl up to camp, I purchased a full set of brand new tires for just under $500. Ouch, but what what a relief. We had been running around on the spare for nearly a month and the remaining tires were nearly all down to the tread warning bar. We were set for the trip.

We get her up to camp near Occidental, CA, with just 15 minutes to spare before the end of registration time--we ran into some unexpected traffic. Get her settled and are on our way about an hour later. As it was just past dinner time we drive over to Bodega for a seafood meal. Unfortunately the bar menu, while cheaper, is far more limited and the oldest daughter likes her shrimp grilled, not breaded and fried. So we opt for the restaurant. It was quite good but not fantastic. The portions were quite large and I just assumed they'd box up the half-a-meal I left behind (pasta primavera w/ salad shrimp added). Nope. I guess some cat was very happy that night.

And then it's back on the road for home. We hit a bit of a delay just as Rte. 12 connects with US-50. It's down to a single lane during some nighttime construction work. After about ten minutes, though we are on our way. But just as we are crossing the great overpass that joins us up with Highway 50, the engine revs up inexplicably and there's no power to the wheels. We are just coasting. Fortunately it is downhill but once momentum is gone we start slowing down. Eventually, I discover that if I turn off the engine and then restart it I can accellerate for about twenty yards before the transmission disconnects again. I hobble to an off ramp and call my insurance's 24-hour line. They say they might reimburse my towing expense but can't be sure because for some reason they could not pull up my policy. It's just after midnight and I decide to deal with it in the morning. The exit we are at is pitch dark save for the glow of the AutoMall sign in the distance so I limp the van to the next exit down. Fortunately, that's the one with about a half dozen fast food joints and diners and about as many motels. The Holiday Inn Express costs more than we have on us (no, we have no credit cards). In order to use my mother-in-laws AmEx card, she'd have to fax them a copy of her driver's license. That's more of a hassle than I'm willing to put her through. But the desk clerk gives us a line on a cheaper place: the Inns of America. That's when I discover that we don't have any reverse as well as any forward gears. I have to push the van out of the parking spot with a bad knee earned over the weekend (see previous post). Actually it only hurts when twisted not during normal pressure, so when the older teen offerst to help, I tell her to stay in the car. We make it down the road in fits and starts and it turns out that with her contribution we scrape together just enough to get us all a room.

It should be a relief, and to a great degree it was. We call my mother-in-law to update her and she agrees to meet us the next morning around 9am.

Sack time. However, my middle daughter gets up about a dozen times that night to the bathroom and my oldest (the one with the cash) ends up getting sick in the middle of the night. Too much stress, seafood, and probably some allergies as well. Fortunately she makes it to the toilet and there's no extra mess which is good because if I smell it, I'm compelled to add my own. But the poor thing, I felt bad for her and would've forced her to accept a hug from ol' dad if I wasn't exhausted.

Next day: Girls seem well, if tired. Ma-in-law shows up promptly as I'm negotiating a tow and locating a transmission repair shop. Breakfast at Denny's. Meet with the tow truck at the motel. Check out and then meet up again at the transmission place. Hand over the van and head on back home. That afternoon the verdict comes in: $2400. If the van were in "good" condition I could maybe get $2200-2500 for it. But I never fixed the door which was going to be $800-$1200. Nope, that price tag was the death knell for Ol' Red. I've started looking into the tax requirements for donating a car to charity. I figure I can claim fair market value at around $800 figuring as I just put $500 worth of tires on it which have less than 200 miles on them. If I had the van home, I'd probably be asking that much. I'll have to collect the documentation.

That night we go looking at new cars. I expressly stated that we would NOT be purchasing a car that evening; we'd wait until the next day. However, we found a 1998 Mercury Villager with just 10,540 miles on it, loaded with extras and kept up very nicely. We bought it putting about half the price down in cash which seriously dipped into our rainy-day fund. But heck, it looked pretty wet outside to me.

My camping daughter has no idea about any of this. We're going to pick her up on Saturday at 9am. Since we'd have to leave home around 5:30am to make it in time and since there's no way we can wake up two teenagers in time to leave then, tomorrow we're going into Santa Rosa to stay the night, just 20 miles or so from my daughter's camp. Then, I'm taking them all to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It's one of my middle daughter's favorite places and she goes in to the hospital on Monday for observation of her epilepsy. They'll probably have to shave her head. I want her to have at least one good memory from this summer. Which reminds me, tonight we'll have to make the s'mores she was promised whilst her baby sister was at camp.