Homeward Bound(up), or How an 8 Hour, 420 mile Drive Became a 1200 Mile, 4 day Adventure

Ah, vacation. Nothing better than a week at one of most beautiful places on Earth, Afterglow Lake Resort in Phelps, Wisconsin. The Charming and Delightful and I spent a glorious week relaxing in the unique vacation rhythm: wake up, munch some breakfast, then go down to the beach and sit in the sun for 6-8 hours, eat dinner, sit by the fire and tell stories, go to bed, and repeat. The only wrinkle this year was the addition of bikes - my mom gave me hers and my step-dad's bikes a few years ago, along with a VW bike rack. It made for a pretty funny looking picture, but vacation is a great place to ride bikes, so we glommed them onto the back of the bug and off we went.

We rode five miles on Monday, and then I tore the menniscus (sp) in my knee on Tuesday afternoon jumping off the high dive, so that was the end of bike riding for 2009. But I digress - this is supposed to be the story of the drive home. And so it shall be.

Reluctantly, we started the drive home Saturday morning. It's always hard to leave, but we look forward to seeing the doggies. The day is bright, the temperature is in the low 70s, and nothing but a 420 mile shot straight down I-39 with one stop for fuel and bio breaks is between us and a nice dinner.

Cue the disaster-around-the-corner music. Cut to a close in shot of the dashboard, showing the trip odometer at 65 miles and the music stops, followed immediately by a 'ding' and the lighting of the red temperature gauge.

Rut Ro, says our hero. What's that?, asks the Charming and Delightful.

A quick check of the owner's manual verifies that the car is overheating, and the recommended course of action is to STOP immediately! Yeah, right here on the interstate... not so much. But we pull off on the next exit in wonderful Wausau, Wisconsin. I'm concerned, but not too much. Perhaps the bike rack is screwing up the aerodynamics enough to cause the car to work harder to push the air, causing overheating (cue spit takes from all the engineers I know...). Nor is it my first experience with too little radiator fluid causing overheating. So if I can find a gas station, I'll just top off the radiator fluid, and be on my way.

We find a Pennzoil 10 minute oil change place, and pull in. A nice man by the name of Nate actually places a call to a mechanic to get help diagnosing the problem. Could be the fan isn't circulating. (Cha-ching!) Could be a water pump. (Cha-ching cha-ching!) Could be a head gasket. (Ching ching ching ching!) After a while it's cooled off, and he tops off the radiator fluid. How much do I owe you? Nothing, he says, you've got enough to worry about.

We didn't get three miles before the dreaded red light came back on. OK, now I'm starting to get concerned. But look, right over there is a VW dealer! We pull off and enter the open service bay at 11:45am. Oh, no such luck, Chuckles - as this is Wausau, the epitome of small town America, we have no service people present on Saturday. They suggest the Wal-Mart tire center just down the road. Super, thank you very little. Off we limp to Wal-Mart. As I'm getting out of the car, this lady comes running out of the building saying very emphatically that I must park over there by the garden center, there's no parking here. I tell her my car is overheating, and could they take a look at it, and she just stops dead. It's like I had grown another head or something... No, we don't do anything like that, she says as though I had asked her to do brain surgery. I snap a little: OK then, don't you worry about where I parked, because I'm leaving!

Flaming piles of poo, now what? I decide that whatever happens, it's going to happen farther south. So I get back on the Interstate and we get about five miles before we pull off again, this time at an Information center. The Charming and Delightful asks for some information about a garage, and we get the address for a Tires Plus that says sure, c'mon in, we'll take a look for you. It's back up north, off the same exit as the VW dealer. In fact, it's about 500 yards FROM the VW dealer. We pass the VW dealer on the way to Tires Plus. Many unkind thoughts are thought regarding the VW dealer and their lack of helpfulness.

At this point we have traveled all of 70 miles in 4 hours. At this rate we'll be home by October.
The Tires Plus guys fill us with false hope by declaring they've found a bad thermostat that they can replace in a few hours. OK, we think, 10pm beats October by a lot. But it is not to be - the thermostat does not fix the overheating. Driving with the stuck thermostat has caused other problems, including the possibility of a blown head gasket. Ouch. The last head gasket we replaced was 20 years ago, and it cost $2500 then. With inflation, we could be talking bailout money, and I am not the US government.

The car is not going anywhere until the dealer can fix it on Monday. After finding out you cannot rent a car in Wausau, Wisconsin after 1pm on a Saturday, we didn't think we were going anywhere either.

Enter my nephew, right around the corner (90 miles, anyway) in Green Bay. He came and got us and we spent the night at his house. Then we rented a car in GB Sunday morning, drove back to Wausau, picked up the bikes from the VW, and drove home without further incident.

The good news is that the problem turned out to be a water pump, and we had 2 days of warranty coverage left, so it was fixed free! On Tuesday, I drove back up to Wausau, picked up the VW, left the rental for my niece to return, and came back home.

Thus, we drove 70 miles to Wausau, 90 miles to Green Bay, 90 miles back to Wausau, 340 miles home, then the 340 mile leg twice on Tuesday. That's why on Facebook I said no more driving for awhile...

Catching Up

I've received requests for an update on my job status. Well, I'm still unemployed. The change job in Chicago evaporated, which I attribute to the resume posted on Monster.com. (Not to be confused with the vastly improved version my friend Kate helped me create, but it's too big a file to re-post on Monster. I don't know enough about setting up document templates in Word to be able to fix it myself, so there you go.) Nevertheless, I won't be working in Lake Forest anytime soon. It's just as well, I guess, since I probably wouldn't pass the dress code in Lake Forest anyway.

Which leaves us with foregoing re-entry into the corporate world and striking out on my own. I've been working with a business broker for a while now, and am pursuing the purchase of a furniture refinishing business. We've agreed on a price, and are in negotiations with the landlord about either a lease or buying the property where the business is located. They aren't exactly what you would call motivated sellers, so the negotiation isn't moving very quickly. Nor is it moving particularly towards a place I want to go. So, it would seem if I buy the business, my first major change will be to relocate. The broker and I are scouting potential locations.

The fly in the ointment is that the refinishing process utilizes all kinds of hazardous materials, so it will not doubt be a bit of a hassle to move. Can you Google "moving hazardous materials" to find out all the local, state and federal hoops to jump through? I doubt it. My guess is that it's like dealing with corporate bosses : what do you want? We don't know, but it's not whatever you've done...

Stay tuned, where our next adventure will involve trying to secure financing!