October Starts

It’s a done deal. I am officially out of my apartment and on the road.  Right now ‘the road’ consists of visiting family and friends so it doesn’t feel like a trip.  Yesterday a friend, today family and tomorrow I’ll help mother celebrate year 96.  Then I can head south, as far as Mankato, again.

There is a light on the dash that has been annoying me for several weeks.  First its on and then its off, sometimes I feel the car do strange things and sometimes I feel nothing.  I talked to a friend with the same brand car and she said required maintenance could light the light.  Well, I needed an oil change before leaving so that made some sense, however the light did not agree.

How to choose a garage has always been fraught with anxiety for me.  There are many stories of rip-off mechanics and nearly none about good mechanics.  Over the years I’ve come to believe people guard their mechanics like a favored fishing spot or a place to find morel mushrooms.  This time a quick internet search for a mechanic led me to a garage with an interesting name and a couple of good reviews.  A phone call later I spent a fast five minutes waiting to hear how many hundreds of dollars and days it would take.  I could have been more trusting; the guy did have MPR playing. 

So after mother’s birthday breakfast I head south to the mechanic, who assures me the problem, while having strange effects on the car, is relatively easy to fix, will only take a couple of hours and won’t be costly.  I remain hopefully skeptical; if his appraisal is true I will guard his name as a prized camping spot.