And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’

And the hits just keep on coming.

Would you like the long version or the short version?

The short version?  Good.

A glorious victory: I successfully haggled the price of the new transmission down to $2488.

We got the van back at 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening.

After heading to the local laundromat to tidy up our wardrobe, we grabbed a $5 pizza from Little Caesar’s.

They tell you it’s only $5, but we were working that off most of the next morning.

The pizza was delicious, then we were on the road.

One hour down rural route 321 in Tennessee (6 hours after picking up the van with a brand new $2,500 transmission) the engine blew.

We managed to pull over into a Dollar General parking lot in Newport, TN, where we spent the night.  If “spent the night” implies sleeping, please insert a different term.

The next morning we had the van towed to Kyker’s Automotive (pronounced Cocker’s).  The good ole’ boys at the shop, as well as several passersby, told us that “the engine’s blowed”.

It seems they’ve replaced all forms of the word “blow” with “blowed” in Newport, TN… it’s about time someone had the bullocks to simplify the English language.

“You blowed this engine...”, “this engine’s blowed...”, the verb, adjective and adverb forms proceed as simply.

Luckily, Kyker’s had a trustworthy staff that gave it to us straight.  It was unlikely that we would find a 25 year old engine for a full ton Dodge van.

They called around a bit, and they were right.  Nothing was available except a rebuilt engine that would run us $2,450, and around $4,500 once labor and tax were factored in.

That didn’t sound like an intelligent option.

Tell me Mr. Kyker, how much do you think we can get out of this van as it is?

$0.

And he was right, the value was actually $0.

No one wants a 1983 van with a blowed engine, it’s not worth it.  There wouldn’t even be a market for the $2,488 transmission we had just put in less than 24 hours ago.  Who else in the world would be trying to replace the transmission on a 1983 Dodge 350 van, and would like to purchase ours?

Not even the crusher wanted our van.  With all of the wood and fiberglass inside, it wouldn’t be worth their time.

Our van, for which we paid $2,000, had put $2,500 into for a new transmission, and had made countless improvements to before we left, was worth $0.

On a long enough time line the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

In less than 24 hours the value of our van rose from $2,000 to $4,500 and plummeted to $0.

On the same day the van broke down, my brother and parents happened to be headed to Murfreesboro, TN for some kind of horse show.  They were nice enough to swing 250 miles out of their way to pick us up in Newport.

We headed to Knoxville where we rented a car, headed back to Newport, loaded up all of our stuff that we wanted, took down the solar panels and took off for Columbus, OH.

Surrender?  We have not yet begun to fight.

We’re switching to the car now.  We’re fortunate that it has not sold yet.

We’re now stronger, faster, more efficient… we have the technology, we can do it.

We’ll head out Monday.

Comments

Just out of curiousity are you guys going to sleep in your car or how are you going to factor that into the new plan? Also cooking and whatnot?

oh man. yah what alex said.
u should buy one of those sliver trailers from the 1950’s

How long are you planning on traveling now?

Our thoughts haven’t changed.

We’re still trucking on indefinitely.

We’ll sleep in our car and get a lot more use out of our tent.

We’re making this up as we go along, but we’ll keep you posted.

i hope you guys have a lot of fun. im looking forward to getting to see all of the pictures from various locations across the us of a. how is lucy adjusting to the “smaller” vehicle?

A very similar thing happened to us twice--once with Ebay & once when buying at a car auciton, so we know how you feel!  It stinks to lose hard-earned money that way!

OK, I was aprehensive before you both left the first time, but now I’m really concerned.  Maybe it’s the mother in me worrying about your safety.  I’m sure you’ve met nice people during your travels, but there’s also a lot of crazys running around too.  At least with the van, you had some privacy.  Now you are both so vulnerable with just your car.  Please tell me you won’t sleep in your car.  Melissa, I had a fit when Joe slept one night in his car during Halloween in Athens.  Luckily, I didn’t know about it until after the fact.  And I’m sure there’s plenty more things my kids have done I’m not ready to hear about either.  But I digress.  I just want you both to be safe.  Remember, this is supposed to be an adventure.  You don’t have to give up every small luxury.  No wonder parents go gray.....I hope Lucy is coping too.

Don’t worry about us.

We haven’t died yet, and I’ve read that history repeats itself.

It’s a dog’s life for Lucy.  How many dogs get to see the world?

This is America, I don’t think we could figure out how to give up every small luxury if we tried.

Thanks for all the comments.

Pray for us and we’ll be OK.