So, if you knew our family very well from about May of 2011 until December of 2014, you knew that the kids referred to Lon's Volvo as 'the death trap' - this is because at one point he was attempting to wire in an antenna for his ham radio and caused a short circuit in the dash, which caused a fire. The rest of that poor Volvo's life it had a melted spot on the dash and a certain amount of fire-extinguisher residue here and there, and it survived the indignity of being referred to as a death trap.
It still served it's (paid for) purpose and got Lon to and from work in Nashville. Several months after we moved up here, though, the Volvo and the Honda both died in the same week. We replaced them with a little Mazda 3 for Lon and a Toyota Camry that Sarah and I were both driving, and we still had our Excursion.
Well, Lon being the resourceful dude that he is, and Annie being sentimental about all things 'retro' they hatched a plan that a new engine could be 'dropped' into the Volvo and it would make an excellent 'first car' for Annie. Lon started working on it with several fellows from work in mid-to-late June. There are men who love to tinker in their garage and work on each other's cars all the time. They have been a huge blessing in our lives, helping Lon manage to pull off several repairs he probably wouldn't have been able to accomplish without their help. And he has learned alot from them along the way.
It was a long process, though, getting that Volvo running again, and the 'departure' date was moved out, several times, even before we 'brought it home'. I remember wondering if Jim was 'jinxing' us, when he said to me, when we picked it up, "Well, we changed everything but the alternator". We drove it home, and Lon spent several MORE weeks (of hard-to-find 'free' time) wrestling with the seats and a few other minor additional changes he wanted to install, before we left.
We had originally thought that I would drive it out, with Emma along to keep me for company and to help me drive a bit, as she had her permit by then (we checked the laws and all of the states we were traveling through would allow a driver to drive on a permit, as long as the laws of the home state were followed). But the more I realized just how undependable this car was likely to be, the more I was NOT excited about this idea. Then Lon expressed that he was a bit 'jealous' that I was 'getting' to take the car out!! So we changed plans and decided to both go, and Emma ended up coming along too, since she was still homeschooling at that point.
We left early one morning and made it as far as two exits past Lon's work, and, you guessed it, the alternator went out!! Spent pretty much the whole day getting that replaced, which involved back-tracking to Jim's house, for the guys to work on it there, after they tried to do it in the parking lot of Schneider, and needed some special tools.
Another start was made that evening and we made it to St. Louis the next day in time to get the part we were picking up there installed, and spend one night there. Then on to Kansas city, and new tires. The next day or two went fairly well, until somewhere in the middle of Wyoming, where we broke down completely and had to be towed to a garage in the little town of Buffalo. We ended up spending I think three nights there, if I remember right, and even when we finally left, we left via rental car, leaving the volvo there, to be repaired the rest of the way, as we had committed to being at MiVoden at a certain point, so that we could help cook for a group that was coming in (the same group that comes every year for a retreat, that we had MET at 31 years before!) and so that we could meet Josh and his parents, who were planning to come up that weekend, too.
We did all that, and made the trip over to Yakima, to see my folks, with Dad in the hospital, we were able to sit with Mom while he was in surgery and Emma was an AMAZING help with him in the hospital the few days we were able to stay. She barely left his side. I should have seen the handwriting on the wall then, but she has now declared that vet school is not where she is headed, she wants to be a trauma nurse.
Lon ended up staying longer than Emma and I, and he and Annie drove back to Buffalo, to get the Volvo, and return the rental car. It had needed a new fuel pump and a new distributor, I believe - two completely unrelated problems that happened at the same time. They made it back to MiVoden, and even went on to Walla Walla, so that Lon could have a quick visit with his folks before flying back.
Then, two weeks, later Annie rolled it. *sigh* (just glad she was in a Volvo, when she did it, or she might not have walked away, like she did!!)
Once I knew she was ok I couldn't help think of all the trouble, money and time that was put into getting that car out there, and started to feel a little frustrated about it all, then I realized, that had we LOST her, I would have paid ALL of that many times over, to get her back, so... it wasn't THAT bad of an 'investment' after all!
Sarah said that maybe the car was not a death trap, after all, it saved her sister's life!!
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