So instead of having Thanksgiving last Thursday like the rest of the country, we went out to my grandma's apartment to clear out her things and bring them back to my folks house. We then took the stuff my folks set aside for us and loaded it up and brought it back out here. Now the trip took about 8 hours each way. Somewhere around hour six, we pulled off at a rest area (again!) and as we backed up, we heard a bang! Then the truck refused to go back any further. Somehow, SOMEHOW, FarmerGeek managed to force it backwards. We figured that as long as it would go forward, we could make the next 2 hours and we could find a mechanic. Yeah, about that. Not ten minutes down the Thruway we hear BANG, whoop whoop whoop, BANG, whoop whoop whoop, BANG... well you get the idea... Now we have to pull off at exit 46. Which really sucked because we have friends at exit 45 and 44. SO we stop at Pep Boys (God bless whoever invented the Garmin!) and FarmerGeek takes the tire off and looks around at it. It seems one of the bolts that goes into the caliper and holds it to the mount is just gone- vanished! (For those of you who, like me, have no clue about such things- that has to do with the brakes.) Since we are at Pep Boys already, FarmerGeek goes in to buy the elusive bolt. They, surprise surprise, don't have it! They do instruct us to go to this other place, so we do. Inevitably, the parking lot is tiny, and every space is one that you have to back out of. But, we figure we don't have to worry about it, we'll replace the part and no problem. (Meanwhile I notice that the gas station next door has a camera crew at it, the news was broadcasting because of how low the gas price was. Of course, it was still forty cents more than at home.) Anyways, the second place doesn't have it and now we had to back up out of the spot. This is when I heard the words every wife wants to hear from her husband, "You're going to have to get behind the wheel and back up, I'm going to have to stick my hand in there and move it while you're backing up."
We both survived limbs intact.
Finally we go to a dealer, a nice fancy car dealer, and park in the parking lot next to their nice fancy new shiny cars. By this time it is, naturally, snowing to beat the band and we, of course, have to walk around the building to get to the parts department. We go in, and the guy behind the counter quickly pulls up a diagram on the computer of our particular wheel/brake/ front of truck and points to this stupid bolt and says, "I think this is what you need, I have it but it's not going to make your day." And I start thinking, oh crap it's going to cost us a small fortune and we're probably going to have to buy a whole new caliper. Then he says, "Normally it retails for $9.99 (I heard $999) but I'll give you a break and charge you $6.75 (I hear $675)." I nearly start to cry. FarmerGeek pulls a ten out to pay for it and it finally dawns on me that it's only going to cost six DOLLARS and seventy-five CENTS. We take our new bolt out to the truck and FarmerGeek proceeds to replace it in the parking lot with me standing guard over him so he doesn't get hit. Now somewhere in this process FarmerGeek has managed to rip his pants in a spot no man wants a draft (Love you honey!!! :D Sorry...)
But the story doesn't end here... oh no...
We make it all the way to the hotel and met up with my parents. The next morning we get up (this is, of course, Thanksgiving for the rest of the country) and the tire is flat. Yes the tire that lost the bolt the day before. So FarmerGeek changes the tire in the middle of the hotel parking lot. And manages to keep his pants intact (I really do love you sweetie!!!). We drive to the apartment, load up the moving truck and both vehicles, and are ready to go. We decide to start out for my folks house and figure to get there about eleven that night (it's a four hourish drive). For the record, my folks live about two minutes from the exit, I pull up to the toll both and I hear BANG, whoop whoop whoop, Bang, whoop whoo- well you get the picture. We get to my folks house and FarmerGeek tries out the truck (he was driving the moving van) and decides the tires need balanced and aligned and since we were planning on buying new tires anyways and Sears had a radio commercial about their Black Friday sale... We decided to take a hotel room right near the mall so that at 5 AM on Black Friday we could get... tires? Man are we boring. Thus how I ended up getting tires for my 30th birthday.
Anyways, we get to Sears, they say about two hours so we walk over to the mall. It was dead until about nine. (No one goes to Eastern Hills anyways.) So we walk back and they tell us the problem is that the OTHER FREAKING BOLT HAS DISAPPEARED!!!! And they called the dealership and they don't have it- no one in the area has it. FarmerGeek does not take no for an answer and calls the dealership to explain how we are stranded. Surprise, Surprise, they have the bolt only there it's $15 instead of $9.99.
Finally we get everything settled, checked out of the hotel, everything paid for, new tires and bolt on and get to my parents house to unload and reload the moving van. Then we come out and that front tire is flat again! BRAND SPANKING NEW TIRE IS FLAT!!! So we drive back to Sears and find out that somehow there's now a hole in the rim of the tire and we need to replace that or else the tire will keep getting flat. So we call around and the only rim in the area that is available immediately is $304. What? So we have three brand new tires and a spare on the truck.
Sorry, this was a long post to say: Our truck broke down a few times and cost us a lot of time and money to fix. I wish I had pics for you... I really do... but the camera was packed in the suitcase.
Coming Soon: My 30th Birthday and the Thanksgiving celebration!
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