unbelieveable!!!

And no, I don't mean that there is an internet signal in the cabin (very poor often times out, but an unexpected blessing)

What is unbelieveable is this...we drive 6 hours to get here, cross the Appalachian Mountains, get to the bottom of the very last hill that we have to drive up to get to the cabin & suddenly the engine starts making a whining noise & the car won't get in gear. Due to past unfortunate experience with my previous car I know what is wrong - tranmission. We get the car up the hill. The whole time I am swearing because not only am I going up hill with a car that won't stay in geear (and therefore drifts backwards from time to time) and not only is the road well travelled enough I am sure I will either hit someone while drifting or they will whack into me as they round a blind bend, and not only because the road is too narrow to actually pull over, and did I mention it is midnight?, but mostly because I know this is going to cost me $1000!!! Pardon my language for a moment but A THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS at least, after we just paid (and are still absorbing) the $780 it cost to fix DH's truck last month.

So we get the car eventually to the Lodge, pull into the parking lot, call my folks & they come get us. Fortunately they are only 5 minutes away. That is the blessing of the whole thing. The transmission could have gone on Sidling Hill (3 hours away from my folks & our house) or up by Cooper's Rock (almost 2 hours from my folks) where there is *NOTHING* for miles & miles & God only knows who we would have called or what we would have done, or even if there would have been a cell signal to call. So if the damn transimission had to die it at least picked a good spot to do it.

Dad called around a few places this morning, someone came & towed it, the guy said it sounds & moves as if the whole transmission has to be rebuilt. He's going to pull it apart Monday & let us know for sure. He also says he canhave it done by Tuesday. We're supposed to leave Tuesday. DH has a major meeting & presentation with the County Board of Supervisors at their monthly meeting on Wednesday night. So he *has* to be back by then. Last time my transmission died (Jan 2000) it took a week to fix and it was a Cavalier so it's not as if it was that hard to find parts. Hard to say how long a PTCruiser could take. Worst case scenario is DH rents a car one way & goes home Wednesday & I get the joy of a 6 hour trip alone with the boys whenever the car gets fixed.

but at least we have a place to stay rent free while the car is being fixed and DH is close enough to do that. In Nov 2002 we drove to FL (18 hour trip spread over 2 days) when we had an accident, bent the frame all to hell hitting a giant rolled up tarp that fell off the back of the tractor trailer in front of us on the highway. We were in the middle of nowhere in GA on I95. Had to stay an extra night in a hotel, rent a car to get to FL, get a taxi to the car rental place, then had to stay an extra 4 days in FL beyond the 7 we had planned while they fixed the car, rush back up to GA to pick up our car & return the rental by 6pm to avoid another $89 day charge and pay $500 in deductible plus almost $1000 in auto rental because our insurance didn't cover that. And we had a 6 week old with us.

we're supposed to drive to FL in December, frankly I'm not thrilled with idea. But I am certainly not flying down there either.