Car Wars

Earlier on in the evening the "check engine" light came on in the van just as I was going to meet my friends for dinner. I was a bit nervous about it because it had been a while since I had last seen that in one of our vehicles. I was especially concerned since I was 1200 miles from home and needed to be back at work on Monday morning. When I informed my wife about it she asked me to look up a dealer in the area and have a mechanic look into it, since we have an extended warranty. Thursday morning I did just that.

I woke up and had coffee with mom as usual and then moved the large pile of brush that used to be two large shrubs (that I cut down a few days ago) to the curb so they could be collected by the trash collectors/recyclers. I removed all the stuff that I thought would be tempting to thieves from the van and then drove out Route 19 towards the Dodge dealership. When I got there, they told me that they could not see me until 1:00 PM and asked that I return at that time. A bit deflated, I left the dealer and came back home to work on a few odd jobs my mom had for me...both of which could not be completed.

The first one job was the removing of a piece of weather stripping from one side of the door to the other, but that was not possible without cutting it and making it look very out of place. I asked my mom why she wanted it on the other side and she told me she thought it would get damaged if it stayed on that side. Had she just told me that in the beginning I may have been able to find a better solution.

The next job appeared simple enough. My mother wanted two outlets swapped with each other. They were a type that I have not seen in a long time and to be perfectly honest, I do not think they are overly safe. The plug into regular outlets and covert the two into six plugs....none of which are grounded. I hate old houses!

I realized that I could not do a professional job so I decided I was not going to move them for her. She really needs to have the entire house rewired, but I know she will never do that.

Lunch time rolled around and mom and I split some left overs. Oddly enough I have not eaten out much this visit. Normally mom gets pizza and LJS fish when I come it but she has decided to cook a few times (her version of cooking) this week. The rest of the time it has been leftovers. The most food I have eaten was yesterday and that was two meals out (DQ and Texas Roadhouse), a road meal of pepperoni rolls and a Yoohoo, and my normal light breakfast.

After lunch I trekked over to the Dodge dealership and let them look into it. Oddly (and thankfully) enough, it was just an O-ring on the gas cap. I guess that is why they suggest changing the cap every couple of years. Amazing that the onboard computer in the van detected that and even more amazing that it cost me $45 to have it "fixed". I guess that is better than the $100 deductible.

Since the "repair" took less time than I had expected, I stopped my the park to take a lap around it. It is not very big...maybe 1.5 miles or so, but it felt good. I know I should have came back home (I was not able to drive mom over to pick up Houston from school) but I needed a bit of time to myself. I still feel that I need the time (maybe a quick trip to the mall tonight?) but I have not been here with mom much during this trip and I am feeling a bit guilty. It really is difficult to sit and do NOTHING all day at the house. All mom does is sit and read or watch TV, except when she takes the dog out (and that is just into the yard), or walks Houston home from school. I feel that she leads a sad existence.

Well, I need to go to the store tonight and get a few little things for my trip home so I do not have to stop and eat all the time. Some yogurt, a little milk, a few bottles of water, and some snack/cereal bars will really be better than fast food. I also need to shower tonight and get all my packing done. I want to hit the ground running at 7:00 AM tomorrow. I know I will get in the middle of Charleston traffic but I should be out of rush hour traffic the rest of the day. If all goes well I can be at camp by 6:00 PM and have a little light to walk a bit before I settle in and begin a long, lonely night. I won't have Block there to keep me company this time.