The case of the missing bolts

It's just over one thousand miles between my house and Bear Lake Wisconsin. That's where my wife's sister lives, which we used as a staging point prior to our trip. There was some hubub about a new baby had by a different sister in Eagan Minnesota, which while overshooting, was our first stop. Drive time was estimated at 16 hours. The events began on Sunday.

Two weeks before leaving, I took the van in to deal with some issues, and to give it a look over before putting my family in it on such a trip. (Spoiler: they didn't find *the* problem)

I made it as far as Cleveland. One of the tires started grinding loudly, and smoke poured from the wheel well. It was 7:30 pm on Friday. The cookie-cutter consumer business plaza we managed to stop in had enough generic amenities within walking distance that I could easily get my kids into a hotel whose TV had Netflix while the AAA driver took my suffering vehicle to the nearest AAA authorized repair facility.

Only I wish they hadn't. The nearest 'authorized' facility was 1.1 miles away. The next closest was 1.2 miles away. The one they took it to was, of course, closed for the day. We were stuck in Willoughby Hill Ohio for the night. The tow driver just up and took the van without me, dropping the key into the secure drop box sight unseen.

Oh sure I can blame cOrOnAvIrUs for all my problems this weekend: otherwise I would have been allowed to ride with him and do the drop myself. At least then I would have seen their posted hours on the door before committing: they were closed until Monday 7am. (The next closest at 1.2 miles was open all weekend)

These were details we were able to glean from various sources well after the fact. Even if AAA was willing to tow the van to the other place (they weren't, and the girl on the phone was a dick about it), they still had the key in their lock box. We were stuck. Even if the place was open, or the van was brought somewhere that was open, there were no guarantees. It could be a simple fix, or they might have to do extensive work (the amount of noise and smoke was a troubling feature).

We slept on it. Poorly, I might add. Hotels are never that comfortable, especially when troubled and stuck. Fortunately, every imaginable need or want that could be had along a major highway near a large city in the US can be met thanks to the entrepreneurial drive of those who want my money. I walked myself to a car rental place and got another van for the duration of our trip. We drove to the repair shop (thankfully my van was still outside) where we unloaded all of our stuff into the rental (My keys were in the drop box, however my lovely wife still had hers). Once the switch was made, we continued onward.

Not going to lie, I felt awkward just leaving the van there for the rest of the trip. Especially knowing that once Tuesday afternoon hit, I would be completely unreachable. They might not be able to work on it until then, and they might find a problem that required my authorization to repair while I was unreachable. I certainly didn't want to give them a blanket authorization to do whatever, because they just might. But since my expedition ended on a Saturday, the next time I could contact them was the next Monday morning, and that was the time I would be arriving to pick it up.

You see why I was experiencing some anxiety about this. It was in the back of my mind all weekend during the various events happening before Monday, when they opened and gave me a call. They were alright with me leaving it for a week (or they were just rolling with it since they didn't have much of a choice). Later in the day they called again after discovering the problem. It was simple enough to easily discover and quickly fix, but bad enough to stop the van and potentially destroy half the parts nearby. (Aren't there supposed to be bolts holding in the calipers? They sheared off)

They also discovered a host of other problems, but it's ten years old and lives where they pour salt brine on the roads. I just wanted it to get us home. By the end of the day, they called back saying it was fixed and ready to go.

This place was only open from 7am to 6pm M-F. It was going to take us 14 hours to get there from where we were starting on Sunday. Short of finding a hotel (a source of concern during a pandemic, emergencies notwithstanding), we needed to time our drive and do a lot of it overnight. Turns out we timed it perfectly, arriving at the repair shop at 7:15. We made the switch, returned the rental, and made our way home.

The age of my van was apparent once we got back in, as I'd been a bit spoiled by the much newer vehicle. I doubt it's going on any more road trips.

Into the wilderness

Honestly the worst part about planning an 8 person, 4 day expedition into a primitive wilderness expedition is the food. Planning around the many different allergies, preferences, diets, tastes, etc is more of a challenge than I prefer to deal with.

So my wife is doing it. I regret nothing. 

Anniversary

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. Honestly I'm surprised she put up with me for so long.

Skating by

When everything shut down, NYS decided to ignore vehicle inspections for awhile. As in they'd let it go for a few months. Mine was due in June, and I kept putting it off. Kept holding on. Pushing my luck. Then it sounded like the brakes were about to go, and I needed an oil change, so I finally broke down and took it in.

Stupid tires were worn below the limit. Stupid brakes were all worn out. I knew there was a hole in the exhaust, and the exhaust pipe was factory original (six year old vehicle in snow/salt country, so that's an accomplishment).

Anyway this is pricey. Yikes.

Nope, closed

So while the school gave us options, we took the one that keeps the kids home. "Distance learning" through the school isn't the same as proper homeschooling, but it's better than nothing, and certainly easier than trying to figure out homeschooling in what time we have left.

Especially since that time is being spent figuring out the last minute details of our upcoming trip. (I never imagined there would be so many details on a wilderness expedition, but alas)

So far all I need to do is convert the lounge in the basement into a classroom. (Nobody uses the lounge much during the school year anyway, so this works out) That appears deceptively easy, but I'll take it at face value and deal with any surprises later.