And I Wander: It's been busy

We're back at Pomme de Terre Lake in Missouri. In the last 4 weeks we've made what seems like a dozen trips to Kansas City for visits to doctors, dentists, tax preparers, yadda yadda yadda.

I've spent hours on line in the quest for a pontoon. We'd decided to get a boat last fall and scoured the area in search of a nice used one. John figured they'd be everywhere, parked in front yards with home made "for sale" signs. Nope. We found one on Craig's List but it didn't meet expectations, so we were anxious to get one this spring. We looked in Texas where all the lakes were dried up. There should be tons of pontoons for sale, right? Nope. It was extremely frustrating. We looked at four or five boats. I'd find one I liked but John would be unimpressed. John would be happy with another but I'd nix the deal. I spent hours on the internet checking e-bay and Craig's List, and finally found a boat we could agree on in Little Rock, Arkansas. The seller promised to hold the boat 'til we got there. We put out extra cat food and water, telling the boys we'd see them the next day. We grabbed a change of clothes and the dog, and left here at noon on Tuesday.

Arriving around 6PM, a warning light on the truck dash told us we needed to "check engine". No biggie. We struck a deal with the seller, told him we'd take the truck to a Ford dealer the next morning and then come back to hook up the boat.

A Ford dealership was close to our motel, and after breakfast we dropped by for what we thought would be a routine stop. This is where the story gets ugly. Hooking the diesel up for diagnosis was $250, and the results were a bill for $801 plus the oil change at $104 plus assorted fees for a total of $925. Ouch! The truck has been trouble-free to this point so we figured it wasn't too bad. We'd heard horror stories about troubles with the engine in our truck, but that couldn't happen to us because we are so careful with maintenance.

We didn't get the truck back until late in the afternoon. John refused to start home then even though I pointed out that we'd be better off getting a 3 or 4 hour start rather than spend the night. He wanted to make sure the truck problems were over before driving home in the dark on 65 Highway. Back to the motel we went.

Bright and early the next morning I got up, put on my dirty clothes and combed my dirty hair; having been prepared for a one night stay. We picked up the boat and headed north; relieved and happy to be on the road.

Conway, Arkansas in about 30 miles north of Little Rock. Five miles before we got there a new light popped on the dash. It was a cute little wrench. I asked John "Whazzat mean?". He suggested I look it up in the owners manuel. The manuel insisted we find a repair facility - immediately!

This story has gone on long enough. Let's just say the second dealership charged us $2100 and we got to tour Conway for the day.

The celebration of Toad Suck Daze was in progress. I'm serious, look it up! It was a big deal there! Wikipedia knows all about Toad Suck, Arkansas!