Anyway, here's what happened: We were driving through 115°F weather near Yuma, AZ and the heat caused (we think) the transmission fluid to boil and cause a leak. We are pretty sure the leak is on the front seal, which is an easy fix, except that it means dropping the transmission to get to it. It's a $28 part and several hundred dollars worth of work to get to the point where you can replace the $28 part. Ugh.
Anyway, Alejandro discovered the leak at a gas station while waves of heat blew at us and we knew we had to go to a mechanic to find out what the problem was. I just can't get over how hot it was. The wind blew and it hurt my face the way it does when you open the oven and stick your face too close to the opening. Alejandro turned to a greasy-lookin' (literally) kid at the next pump and asked him where a mechanic was. He offered to let us follow him there. (Thank you, Lord for that bit of provision!) He took us to a hole-in-the-wall place a few miles down the road where there were some REALLY nice guys with decades of experience and kind hearts who raised the Jeep, took a look and explained our options at no charge. (Thank you Lord for THAT provision too!) (By the way, "hole-in-the-wall" translates to "really great" on this blog as it applies to mechanics and Mexican food places.)
Our options? Stay in that tiny town for another another full day and pay food and lodging for our family including two animals, while they do the work, or buy extra transmission fluid, drive slow and check the fluid level every half hour to get to San Diego where our favorite mechanic in the world is. We opted to make it to our favorite mechanic. I had started praying for a miraculous healing of our vehicle as soon as Alejandro saw the leak and when we got all the way to San Diego without any more leaks, I started to think my prayers might be answered. But then yesterday Alejandro said there was more dripping... So tomorrow we get to make a visit to our friends at B and B Auto.
Needless to say, this is NOT really something we need right now.
But when is it, really?
Anyway, after that excitement, we made it to my Dad's house, where we got our cat settled into her new home. She's doing fine and we're really glad she and my Dad and step-mom have fallen in love with each other so quickly.
Now we're at my Mom and step-dad's house where we are staying and we've had two pretty productive days. Alejandro has been doing the work he came to do. I scheduled a Mary Kay facial party with an old college roommate friend of mine and had a great visit with her yesterday.
We've had some other frustrating hurdles hit us too, which I won't go into... and suffice it to say that last night I had a good long fall-apart moment while my poor mom and husband wondered what in the world would console me. Finally I just told them I need to cry. "Oh!" they both said and that put their mind at ease. Ha ha! It kind of made me laugh that they were so bewildered by what to do and then totally understood once I said I just needed to cry.
On a brighter note, last night Alejandro and I had a really romantic date while Danny slept at home with the grandparents. We went down to one of our favorite spots here in town, the Hotel Del Coronado, the beach it's situated on, and the garden courtyard within. Alejandro and I spent many days in this area during our dating days and he proposed right under the gazebo in the center of the courtyard. The story of our proposal deserves its own telling, which I'll get to some day when I have wads of time and money to do whatever I want. Ha!
Ok, ok, I will try to get to it. ;-)
And since I can't think of a good ending, nor can I think of anything to say, I'll just end with... that's it for now! (How I love stream-of-consciousness style writing.)
