The Long Journey Home

There's nothing like driving down the open road. Beatles blaring on the radio. Wind blowing through your hair. Because the air conditioner conked out right as we left town. Followed quickly by the check engine light flashing on. Just after we passed the entrance to Zion's (about 15 minutes outside St. George) we crested a hill and lost power. Good feelings gone.
When I pulled over to the side of the road a bunch of steam came out from under the hood. Luckily the car would still start, so we weren't completely dead. Whew.
Thanks to our more-than-worth-it roadside assistance we called in for a tow and were back in Washington City in an hour. Hot, sweaty messes, but still. Turns out that the radiator was cracked and had leaked all the coolant (causing the steam), causing the engine to overheat (power loss). We also had some majorly old and cracked belts that needed replacing. The guy at Tunex estimated he could get us back on the road by 3pm.

We hung around the waiting room at Tunex during the whole diagnosis process, but as soon as they started working on it we headed to the nearby Red Robin. It was actually pretty pleasant. We ate a yummy lunch, then just hung out there in the air conditioning for a couple hours. I made arrangements for the kids by phone. Luckily Mel's hubby, Brad, was sweet enough to go watch the boys until Ian could get home from work.

At 2pm we went back to Tunex. We didn't end up leaving there until 4:30pm. The car also needed a new battery, but rather than paying $150 for it at Tunex we drove over to the Walmart across the street to get a $75 battery. Well, just our luck, they put in the new battery and then the car wouldn't start at all??? After several Walmart mechanics trying to figure out the problem, this one guy determined that the ground cable was really corroded and probably needed to be replaced.

By this time we were all getting a little crabby and frustrated. The good news of the day was that Brad got the pharmacy tech job that he interviewed for back in Rexburg!
Finally after another 2 hours in Washington City the car was in working condition. We actually had a fairly pleasant drive home from there, but didn't get to Salt Lake until 11:15pm. Ugh.

Long story short: $1200 and 7+ hours later than planned we pulled up to my house.

Things I Am Grateful For From July 27th:
I am grateful that I had Mom and Mel to keep me company. I am grateful that we did not have to stay another night in Washington City. I am grateful that we didn't have to leave the car there and then have to arrange to drive back down at some point to pick it up. I am grateful that we got home safely. I am grateful for my credit card.