This kinds ties in with my hotel thread, as it happened again on a small vacation this weekend. Some history:
~1987. Driving my beautifully restored 1966 Chevy Impala from Fort Campbell to NY on a 4 day pass. Fuel pump conks out just outside Elizabethtown, KY. Long story short, hitched a ride back to E-town, picked a new fuel pump, and made a side-of the road repair (pretty simple on that car). Not too bad, and luckily I had the tools to get it done.
~ 1993. Dodge Shadow ES turbo. Driving from Fort Hood to Indy. Water pump dies just outside Joplin MO. Was able to limp it into Joplin by letting it cool, driving slowly for a short while until the temp got up to about halfway, then letting it cool again. Did this about half a dozen times. Stopped at the first mom-n-pop gas station and got it replaced. Lost about 5 hours travel time.
2000. The trip from hell. Previous ones, I was alone. This was a family move from AK to IN. 1994 Suburban, pregnant wife and 2 kids. Driving to the ferry port at night, hit a bit of construction. You know those small bumps in construction zones that have this "Bump Ahead" sign that seems silly because the bump is so small? Yeah, this one had no sign, and it was a HUGE bump. Busted up half my exhaust. On a Sububan, mind you. The bump was invisible at night on an unlit highway. Had a 1 day layover in Juneau for the next ferry and had my exhaust repaired there. Get off the ferry in WA. Get down the road aways, transfer case explodes. Extra day of travel time. Montana, fuel pump goes out. Extra travel day. Minnesota (I think) AC compressor implodes, takes the belt with it. With some loaner tools from the auto parts store, I short-belted it, so no AC for the rest of the trip. Trust me on this, you don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam in Chicago in the afternoon with a wife and couple kids with no AC.
Then, this weekend. Almost took my wife's 2019 RAV4, but we needed cargo room, so we took my 2006 Pathfinder. I love this truck. As old as it is, it still looks great and ran great (until this weekend). AC went out Friday morning. Son of a... It couldn't have gone out 3 days earlier, so we could take the RAV4, or 3 days later, when I wasn't traveling? We came home early this morning, a few hours earlier than we planned, so we could travel when it was cool. And it was. Wife, daughter, and 9 month old and 6 year old grandkids. Afternoon travel would have been another trip from hell, but an early departure avoided that.
Feel free to commiserate or make fun of my luck as you please.
~1987. Driving my beautifully restored 1966 Chevy Impala from Fort Campbell to NY on a 4 day pass. Fuel pump conks out just outside Elizabethtown, KY. Long story short, hitched a ride back to E-town, picked a new fuel pump, and made a side-of the road repair (pretty simple on that car). Not too bad, and luckily I had the tools to get it done.
~ 1993. Dodge Shadow ES turbo. Driving from Fort Hood to Indy. Water pump dies just outside Joplin MO. Was able to limp it into Joplin by letting it cool, driving slowly for a short while until the temp got up to about halfway, then letting it cool again. Did this about half a dozen times. Stopped at the first mom-n-pop gas station and got it replaced. Lost about 5 hours travel time.
2000. The trip from hell. Previous ones, I was alone. This was a family move from AK to IN. 1994 Suburban, pregnant wife and 2 kids. Driving to the ferry port at night, hit a bit of construction. You know those small bumps in construction zones that have this "Bump Ahead" sign that seems silly because the bump is so small? Yeah, this one had no sign, and it was a HUGE bump. Busted up half my exhaust. On a Sububan, mind you. The bump was invisible at night on an unlit highway. Had a 1 day layover in Juneau for the next ferry and had my exhaust repaired there. Get off the ferry in WA. Get down the road aways, transfer case explodes. Extra day of travel time. Montana, fuel pump goes out. Extra travel day. Minnesota (I think) AC compressor implodes, takes the belt with it. With some loaner tools from the auto parts store, I short-belted it, so no AC for the rest of the trip. Trust me on this, you don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam in Chicago in the afternoon with a wife and couple kids with no AC.
Then, this weekend. Almost took my wife's 2019 RAV4, but we needed cargo room, so we took my 2006 Pathfinder. I love this truck. As old as it is, it still looks great and ran great (until this weekend). AC went out Friday morning. Son of a... It couldn't have gone out 3 days earlier, so we could take the RAV4, or 3 days later, when I wasn't traveling? We came home early this morning, a few hours earlier than we planned, so we could travel when it was cool. And it was. Wife, daughter, and 9 month old and 6 year old grandkids. Afternoon travel would have been another trip from hell, but an early departure avoided that.
Feel free to commiserate or make fun of my luck as you please.
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