Monday night before leaving on Tuesday for St. Louis my wife asked me to check the shifter cable on the Neon. 2 years ago my neighbor and I, mostly my neighber, replaced it when a 10 cent rubber bushing wore off allowing the shifter to break causing the car to remain in neutral. I proceeded to check the car in the 100+ heat index, full sun, afternoon at about 5pm. Once again the bushing had worn away because my El CHEAPO battery from AutoZone had corroded and dripped down on it. I called the local Dodge dealer and was able to secure the $165 cables. 10 cent part turns into $165. What a MOPAR scam. Then add $55 for another battery.
I pulled the Neon up on the curb allowing some access to the under side of the car. On my own I pulled the batter and dismantled everything except ONE bolt that held the cable system in place. This bolt was WAY up underneath the car and all I had was a simple jack meant for changing flats.
Long story short I did all I could from 5-6:30, wolfed down a great tasting spaghetti dinner my mom whipped up, attended a 7pm PTA meeting for my new school, snuck out at the 7:35pm intermission, came back home and with the help of my 2 awesome neighbors who had a hydraulic jack and 2 jack stands we finished up the job about 10:30pm. This 5-10:30 mad scramble followed about 5 hours of mowing so I was whipped.
I started packing last night about 11pm after eating another helping of spaghetti. The goal was to leave by 7am and we just missed that by 40 minutes. So far the only thing I know I left behind is my dad's father's day gift, a lawn tractor rain guage. Hoping the wife can mail it?????
We arrived tonight 13 hours later. 1 food stop, 3 antigue stops, 1 gas fill up, dropped my aunt off and then retrieved my mom's car from the airport parking. Managed to squeeeeeeze in White Castles ALREADY!
Busy day tomorrow too! Good night.
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