On a Thursday night late a few weeks ago I was experiencing some extreme back and stomach pain-- a quick search on WebMD (never a good idea) listed everything from indigestion to cardio pulminary blood clots so it was with reluctance that I headed to the Emergency Room of St Vincent's Hospital.
After a night in the hospital I was cleared with a mostly clean bill of health but feeling good enough that I could drive 100+ miles that morning and teach three workshops on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard.
Exactly one week later-- on the Fourth of July we headed out to the drive in to catch The Lone Ranger and about a half mile from home I got a system failure warning which started with the battery light on the dash and was followed by all power shutting down.
I'm assuming it's in need of a new alternator-- not a crazy expensive repair. As I write this I've scheduled an appointment with my amazing mechanic team at Greasy's Garage on Hamilton Street so fingers crossed.
But I found it ironic that it was one week after my on brief visit with the repair shop AND a week of driving some 600 miles all over the state-- to think the car would fail only 1/2 mile from my house is an amazing bit of luck, and maybe in another post soon I'll talk about that luck.
Despite the idea that its a relatively small repair it brings to the forefront some hard truths to face-- my car is now 10 years old. In people terms that puts it well beyond senior years. My mechanic tells me it should last a few more years because I am strict at regular maintenance-- and I mean strict.
But I know the breaks are spongey and I'm betting I'll need new tires for the winter-- that and the fact that we've got to rent a car to drive to Iowa this summer has me thinking maybe its time for a new car.
My car doesn't get great gas mileage-- in fact it gets downright lousy gas mileage, and on a dealer website I was able to calculate the savings in fuel alone and it comes out to $129/mo!
So now opens up the hellish experience I call car shopping.
And I will keep you updated.
