I’ve had several concerned e-mails (and one stalker attempt LOL!) since the Burlington SDV.  Nancy announced that I had a ‘family emergency’ – nope, the family (except for me!) was still on vacation at that point.  Read on if you want the boring details…

I arranged to return early from a vacation trip with my family.  Took the Connecticut Limo (which sounds soooo plush, but is in actuality, a bus), from the airport and I got home on Wednesday morning. 

Walked into my house and wondered why the kitchen island looked wet.  It was wet.  Why?  Well perhaps from the foot wide hole in my kitchen ceiling.  I rushed to call my brother and couldn’t reach him so I dashed into my car to go over to his house and retrieve him.  Car wouldn’t start.  Battery was dead.  I’d been gone for a couple of weeks, so that was weird, but kind of understandable I guess.  I called the plumber / handyman and when James arrived, he jumped my car. 

I left him working on the house and took my car into service.  They said nothing was wrong with the battery or alternator.  I asked them to remove a fuse which my husband has told me controls the interior lights.  My car is older (2000) and it isn’t smart about those lights, so when loading/unloading at an SDV, I could run down the battery.  They took care of it and I went home. 

James said a pipe under my kids’ sink had gotten a pin-hole leak and sprayed against the drywall at the back of the cabinet upstairs, ergo kitchen ceiling mess.  He starts to fix all this.  I start to pack things up for my trip.

Thursday – packing some more.  Printing lots of handouts.  etc etc etc and watching James put new drywall up.

Thursday night – putting it all in the car.  Get almost no sleep.

Friday morning 4am.  Car is loaded with ‘stuff’.  I grab a Diet Coke and jump into car.  Car starts right up.  Yay!  Uh oh – car will not go into gear.  The automatic transmission is not working.  I cannot move the lever from Park to anything.  This cannot be happening.  I turn off the car and try again.  No shifting.

I am screwed.

It’s 4 in the morning.  I don’t know anyone local that is going to the event.  My husband and family are still in Arkansas (I had come home early).  The only other car is a convertible Saab, which, with how much stuff I pack, would barely hold ONE class’ worth.

I am screwed.  I keep trying and thinking and pondering and at 5:30am I call Nancy’s cell phone and give up.  It just isn’t meant to be.  I can never make my classes in time.  I have no viable alternative.  Renting a van would kill me when you add hotel, meals to it – I am just not going to get there.

It is Friday the 13th.

The only bright spot was that I was now completely prepped for the Camp Hill SDV in 3 weeks.

Later that day, it turns out the Lovely Service Person had loosened a fuse that controls the automatic transmission power thingies when he was trying to figure out which fuse controls the interior lights.  That is about as technical as I get – but that is why it wasn’t working.  Can I charge him for my labor???

So I taught a Rangerpalooza on Sunday at a local store and my car started fine.

The following Saturday I taught in Connecticut again, and the battery was dead that morning, and slow to turn over in the afternoon.

I had to teach in New Hampshire the following weekend.  Neil changed out the battery with the van – which was now available since they were home with me.  My Expedition worked great in New Hampshire.  The van battery was dead when Neil was leaving Chuck E. Cheese with the kids.  In the rain.

Why on earth the service shop told me the battery was fine, I’ll never know.  But I now have a new battery and the van has its battery back.

My Expedition worked great for Camp Hill.  Still a weird problem that sometimes the odometer isn’t lit up.  The service guys did tell me that – which I hadn’t noticed before.  Car is having the seven year itch I think.  But it works.

But I am strangely calm about the Orlando SDV – it’s an airplane and not my car that I have to rely upon to get there!!