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We got in too late to post last night, so here's a quick update:

Monday morning neither Georg nor I could sleep, so we got up early and got to the Firestone a few minutes before they opened at 7. Unfortunately the really nice "anything I can do to help you, I'll do" guy wasn't there, instead there was a "yeah right, we've all got problems, sit down and we'll get to you when we get to you" guy. Still I can't complain. The work got done. Not quite as fast as I think it would have been if it had still been the guy who gave a crap. But we were back on the highway by 8:45.

Turns out that Jiffy Lube didn't just crack my radiator. They also put in the wrong kind of coolant! They put in orange, and according to the guy at Firestone I'm supposed to have green. I noticed the stuff leaking out was orange and wondered about that. I'd never seen orange coolant before. So the expense Jiffy Lube has caused me now stands at: $100 for the radiator flush, $375 for a new radiator, and $100 for another radiator flush after we get back, to put back the proper coolant. (They offered to do it at Firestone but I wanted to get back on the road and he said it would be OK to wait). I am definitely going to be contacting Jiffy Lube.

The drive was long but fine. It was about 13 hours total, which I could never have done by myself. But Georg shared the driving, whew! He had picked up some food at a nearby grocery store while we were waiting for the car, so we didn't have to stop for food. There was no traffic at all except in Houston, which we reached around 6 pm, and even that wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. The only bad part was at the end. We reached Austin at 9, but got lost trying to find our hotel on Congress Avenue and spent almost 40 minutes driving in circles in some neighborhood off Lamar. Finally another car drove past and we followed them out.

Then the worst part was that the delay meant we got there just as all the restaurants on the block were closing! There's a really nice Mexican cafe with free wireless right next door to the hotel, and I had been thinking all day about having a late supper there, catching up on my website and email, as a reward for finishing our marathon drive. There were tons of people inside when we drove up to check in, but by the time we put our suitcases inside and walked back to the front it was closed up tight. This was 10 pm, (11 East Coast time) and we hadn't had any dinner yet. Waah! I'm afraid I had something of a freak-out at this point. Luckily Georg went down the front desk and found a 24 hour restaurant close by (Magnolia Cafe). By the time we had eaten it was after 11 and we had barely enough energy to get back to the hotel room and collapse.

OK, that's Monday. The next post will be much happier and more relaxed.