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The wedding was beautiful, our stay was fun, but the drive home was where things got interesting. Everyone was out of sorts and crabby, which made packing up take longer than expected. Then, when we were finally ready to leave (1.5 hours behind schedule) the car wouldn't start. Apparently, I had a weak battery and leaving the doors open while packing was too much for it. "Well," I thought, "unless the starter was bad, it was no big deal. That's what jumper cables are for." Sure enough, we got the car started in no time and we were on our way. I had a full tank of gas, so there was no worry about having to turn off the engine before we were safely back home. As you'll see, a weak battery turned out to be the least of my worries. Maybe it was an omen?
Having left later than planned we hit some traffic here and there. Mercifully, it wasn't too bad and we made pretty good time. After driving some 200 miles, with around 20 more to go, something completely unexpected happened. The transmission in my car failed. It failed BIG. You would have though I put the car reverse doing 65 mph the way the gears dropped. It felt like we hit a railroad tie in the road, but as the car quickly decelerated, it was obvious that something was terribly wrong with it. I immediately pulled over to the shoulder and cut the engine. Chris had called me just before it happened, so he had gotten a play by play account of my mishap. I told him I was going to investigate further and call him back.
Hoping that the gears had just gotten stuck temporarily, I turned the car back on, put it in drive and gingerly gave it some gas. Nothing. More gas. Nothing. Floored it. It didn't move so much as an inch. I tried reverse with the same result. Figuring that my Chrysler 24-hour roadside assistance was useless we decided to call Mom & Dad's AAA service. Thank goodness we were close enough to home that Chris could come get the kids out of the car before we loaded the car up on the flatbed tow truck. The tow truck driver marveled at how the front wheels refused to turn as the car was dragged up onto the bed of the truck. He agreed that the transmission was the most likely culprit. This was NOT good news.
So, Chris took the kids home in his car and Mom and I rode home in the tow truck. With all our stuff still packed in the car, the only place it made sense to tow it was back to our house. The wheels still wouldn't turn, so the driver had to, quite literally, shake the car off the bed of the truck. It was almost comical. Yesterday, we had it towed to Aamco. There it sits, waiting diagnosis on Monday. Depending on the cost, it may be worth fixing, if only to make a few bucks on a trade. After that little ordeal, I'm not so sure I'll want to keep it.
Despite our little adventure coming home, Thanksgiving was wonderful. Every year I find more and more things to be thankful for. This year, I'm especially thankful for the health and safety of my family. After all, there are far worse things than a broken down car.
Stay tuned... the fate of my car is still to be decided!
