After another long day of driving, we decided to make camp in Fort Davis, Texas. Just before we arrived, our air conditioner went out and left us with a really hot, thirty-minute drive the rest of the way into town. Luckily, there was a AAA- and NAPA-rated mechanic right in town, which is pretty crazy since Fort Davis is only about as big as a large ranch. The guy said we would have to pick the car up the next afternoon. So that left us a whole day without our van that we lovingly refer to as "the Trusty Steed". As a "for-the-day" replacement, the nice mechanic lent us his Chevy Silverado, which looks like it has run over its share of javelinas. It is one of those trucks you can trust, complete with dinged-up bumpers, a Copenhagen can tucked up into the visor, and dust all over the dash. As soon as we revved it up, the most twangy country song started to play, and the "service engine soon" light came on. This is very ironic since the owner could probably just take care of the engine in an hour. The truck has 350,000 miles on it, which is almost twice as many as the Steed.
While all this was going on, we had to check out of one hotel room and into another on the same day. So the situation was this: We were driving around in a honkytonk truck, we also had all of our luggage in it because we were in the process of changing rooms, we were supposed to go to the McDonald Observatory later, and had been raining off and on. So to say the least...We were in trouble.
Every time we got in and out of the truck, we had to take the bags out of the bed and shove them all into the cab. We did this ten times. We made it back to the hotel, checked in and tried to unlock the door. But as luck would have it, we had to switch keys, and to make matters worse, the rain started up again while we were waiting. We finally got inside. Mom drove back to the mechanic, hoping to exchange the truck for the Trusty Steed, and it turns out we are staying till Thursday instead of leaving on Tuesday because a part has to come in.
Over all, it's been a pretty rough day. But the first few are always the worst.
While all this was going on, we had to check out of one hotel room and into another on the same day. So the situation was this: We were driving around in a honkytonk truck, we also had all of our luggage in it because we were in the process of changing rooms, we were supposed to go to the McDonald Observatory later, and had been raining off and on. So to say the least...We were in trouble.
Every time we got in and out of the truck, we had to take the bags out of the bed and shove them all into the cab. We did this ten times. We made it back to the hotel, checked in and tried to unlock the door. But as luck would have it, we had to switch keys, and to make matters worse, the rain started up again while we were waiting. We finally got inside. Mom drove back to the mechanic, hoping to exchange the truck for the Trusty Steed, and it turns out we are staying till Thursday instead of leaving on Tuesday because a part has to come in.
Over all, it's been a pretty rough day. But the first few are always the worst.
