Sunday we're off to my folks' house for dinner, and about a mile from home I'm slowing down from a turn and the van does a big "THUNK" from the front end. Like, not good really bad probably terrible thunk. I limp it around the turn and off to the side of the highway and get out. Look underneath, sure enough, a geyser of transmission fluid is making it's way to the pavement. Managed to get home, thank everything, as neither my wife or I brought cellphones with us - how ironic, right? Of course I was a little bit stressed, I mean, being kind of a car geek it doesn't take much to figure that thunking plus a geyser of tranny fluid /= good.
This was particularly annoying, of course, because I spend time and money to maintain vehicles well so they don't fail. All our vehicles are full of Mobil 1, have K&N filters, quality (Goodyear) tires, etc etc - I'm pretty anal about keeping vehicles running well. However, front wheel drive vehicles, Chrysler products in particular, are well known for transmission failures no matter what you do.
Came to work yesterday, and sure enough the LHT had two flat tires. One theory is that it was mad I left it here all weekend. The other is that, well, the Jamaica Me Crazy trail eats tires. Last night went to replace 'em, and realized I'm out of spare tubes. Crap.
Today I hear that yesterday there was a cyclist killed in a vehicle/cycle accident downtown in the morning, and a elderly woman died after a horrible accident about a half mile from my home. My little annoyances are nothing, but rather just minor setbacks.
These turn of events certainly are not missed on me. I got a second chance a couple years ago, I shouldn't have, but I did. Is it highly likely that I'm going to have to pay a couple grand for a new transmission? Sure. Does it suck that I'm not going to get to ride my bike a lot this week? Yup. You know what doesn't suck? Sunshine and being able to appreciate it another day.
Like I said, lemonade in a half-full glass. That's how I roll.
1 comments:
I hate anything to do with transmissions. Good luck with that one. Bikes are a whole lot easier to deal with.
Post a Comment