Undersea Mah Jongg is at the shop today, getting checked out before the trip. I think we have a slow oil leak & asked them to check for that. Also I asked them to make sure the clutch is okay.
I've been going to this mechanic -- Hawkins Auto Care -- since I got my first car in 1992. They're in a little area by the I-85 exit ramp at Hillsborough Rd, and the construction has affected them a lot. One of the other businesses in their compound is gone (the building was torn down to make room for widening the interstate) and the security fence is gone too. Today when I got there, half the parking lot had been replaced by a mountain of earth and a drainage ditch made of large stones. They told me that they're going to make the parking lot loop around the back of the building so they have room for customer cars.
I hope their business isn't suffering due to the construction. When I go there now, there are only a small fraction of the cars in the parking lot that there used to be. That might be because the nearby business that left was a body shop. I would really hate for Hawkins to close. It's nice to have a mechanic I trust.
[Jeff from Hawkins just called. The oil leak is due to a blown engine seal. He said that we caught it before it caused any damage. Good thing it's being fixed before the trip!]
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there was an article in the herald-sun a couple months ago about how the construction was affecting businesses along that stretch of I-85... specifically focusing on the owner of the howard johnson hotel. it's pretty sad. not only is pan-pan no longer, but "progress" is seeming taking a toll on many other businesses, too.
i know that personally, within a couple of months, the construction is going to be right outside my front window... and that's going to take its toll, too. but at least part of that process will be the building of a giant brick wall to block the nastiness from my sight.