funnystrange.com

I'm having trouble sending email out from the cell modem connection. So those of you who sent concerned emails, don't worry, we're OK :)

As you may have seen from the photos, today did not go exactly as planned. Apparently, when Jiffy Lube did the radiator flush yesterday, they used too much pressure and the top of the radiator cracked. It was fine until about 2 this afternoon. Just north of Montgomery, we pulled into a rest stop to switch drivers and noticed white smoke coming out from under the hood. When we lifted up the hood we saw the coolant leaking out.

We were lucky in a lot of ways. First, we happened to pull over when the coolant had just begun to leak, so the car didn't overheat. Second, we were at a rest stop with bathrooms and picnic tables, not stranded on the shoulder of I-85 (which is fairly narrow around here). Third, Georg hadn't pre-paid the hotel reservation in Mobile, so we were able to cancel with no hassle.

The AAA tow driver took a while to get there, but he was a hoot and a half. He was a master of tall tales, entertaining us throughout the half hour drive to Montgomery with stories of custom car deliveries and impressive wrecks. The best one being the guy who drunkenly drove his H2 into a concrete drainage ditch, landing it on top of a water main, which water main broke when the tow guy dragged the H2 out, which broken water main spewed with such pressure it split the H2 in two. I don't believe it, but it was a great story nonetheless.

The funniest thing that happened was when, on the way to Mobile, we drove past a Chrysler Le Baron convertible on fire. Seriously, there were huge flames coming out of it. As we crawled past the firemen trying to put out the car, the tow driver complained that he had stopped and offered to help the driver when the car was only smoking, but the driver insisted that he didn't need help. And he (the tow guy) predicted that this was going to be his next call, to tow the Chrysler back when they put the fire out. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later he got the call! That one I know was for real, because we could hear the dispatcher.

The tow driver seemed really taken with Undersea Mah Jongg. I wonder what stories he'll tell future customers about us. More importantly, he knew an auto shop that does radiators and was still open. The mechanic was really nice. He ordered the part, got it delivered before he closed, and said if we have the car there by 7 he'll have it repaired by 8.

Montgomery is only a couple of hours from Mobile, where we had planned to stop tonight. So if we can get on the road by 8 or so, we may still make it to Austin tomorrow.