Give Me Back My Boring Year!

A couple days ago I posted what was essentially a complaint about how boring 2014 had been.  Boy - I spoke too soon, and wish I could take it back.

We left yesterday morning for Christmas in Bertram and Liberty Hill.  We’re back now, tired as Hell but all in one piece.  That, as they say, is the good news.

We didn’t make it out of Houston, were still on the beltway approaching I-45 when the check engine light came on.  I glanced in the mirror and saw that we were blowing fog like the mosquito man.  I took the first available exit, pulled in to the parking lot of Texaco station/convenience store, and called Good Sam Roadside Assistance.

The wrecker showed up remarkably soon, we loaded up the truck and went looking for a shop that could help us on Christmas Eve. The first shop they sent us to, an NTW, had tire changers on duty but no mechanic.  They sent us across the Freeway to Mac Haik Dodge.  They were open, but only until noon, which didn’t give them time to look at it.  Their service writer suggested we take it to the Firestone dealer next door.  Their mechanic diagnosed the problem but said it was a high pressure diesel leak, something they were not equipped to fix.

After a discussion with Good Sam, they sent a wrecker back to take the truck back to the Dodge dealer.  The Firestone store called Enterprise Rent-a-Car and we rented a fire red Hyundai.

It could have been worse.  Several people showed us the true Christmas Spirit:

• Our Good Sam contract calls for a free tow to the first available repair facility, but they agreed (after a little explanation) to pay for hauling us to four.  All within a mile of each other, and the second one was also the fourth, but still.. 
• Firestone worked on our truck for over an hour, carried our dogs (in their crate) into their lobby to keep them warm and refused to to accept any payment when they weren’t able to fix our truck.
• The girl at the desk at Enterprise, when she found out what had happened and where we were leaving our truck volunteered to give us the Mac Haik discount – a free size upgrade and unlimited mileage on the car.

At a family gathering yesterday, my son-in-law’s brother-in-law told me that he recently had the same thing happen on his Dodge diesel, and the part only cost $36.00.  I’m praying that he is right.