Miko and Me: Free At Last

Meanwhile, back at my new home – the car lot – we are patiently waiting for my transmission coolant housing unit to show up. It was coming from Memphis, which was about six hours away. We found out that we needed a new one on Friday, but it did not show up until the following Wednesday. I spent two nights at the WoodSpring Suites. Sounds really classy but in reality the best thing I can say about it was that it was super clean. The second night, I was fortunate? to get the last room. They did not want to rent it to me because evidently a dog had chewed up the blinds. I decided that if they had a blanket, I could put it up over the window-what can I say - I was tired and cranky. I got up to the room and the bed needed to be made but Pedro, the front desk guy was up there quick as a flash and made up the bed and covered the window. Miko spent both nights curled up under the bed. I don't think she was into the whole living the high life in a motel.

The transmission coolant housing arrived around 11:00 am on Wednesday. I can't tell you how excited I was that I was finally going to leave the car lot and move on down the road. It took Mike, my personal mechanic a couple of hours to install the unit and he tripled checked everything to make sure that it was all good and then I was on the road. What joy!!!!

Ten miles down the road, I'm climbing a hill and I see that the engine is overheating almost to the red line again. I pulled off onto an off ramp(I'm an expert on what to do when an engine overheats now and I know what to do – pull over and call Joe). Joe sends Mike and another guy out to see what the problem is. Turns out, a hose had burst. What are the chances that all this stuff happens all at once – cracked radiator, broken housing unit and a burst hose? Mike replaces the hose and I'm again on my way.

Nasty little slit

I want to take another moment here and talk about how good Crain Buick/GMC in Springdale was to me. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't taken me in. There was Mike, the mechanic, who really put his heart into getting me fixed up – I know he felt my pain as each new thing went wrong. And then there was Matt, the Service Manager who did everything in his power to make my 10-day stay as comfortable as possible. Lastly, Joe – the Service Adviser – the one who worked so hard to make sure I did not lose it during this whole process. If there was something that needed to be done, Joe would magically make it happen. These three guys went way above and beyond the call of duty. There are good people in the world and I am so grateful that I ran into these guys.

Now, not being of the sissy sort, I am heading into the mountains of Arkansas. There is no need to baby my engine, no need to break in these parts gently. I am going to really put these new engine parts to the test. I am heading to Lake Fort Smith State Park which is only a measly hour's drive away. Nobody had mentioned to me that I have to go over a mountain and then even worse down a mountain to get to the park. The drive up the narrow twisty road wasn't too bad, it was the drive down into the valley that got to me. I practiced my mountain driving skills but my brakes still smelled a little bit burny by the time I got to the bottom.

Miko and I really needed to spend some decompression time after our ordeal and this was the perfect spot. We didn't talk to anybody for a couple of days, there was no online presence, total solitude. We hiked – actually a rather grueling hike up and down the hills, it was a little bit rough on this winter body of mine. We saw armadillos – weird little creatures who have no idea that anybody is anywhere near them. We also saw a snowy owl and several hawks. Mostly we just sat and eased on thru the days.