The Sewing Mom

Today started out decently enough, I took my daughter to school and did some volunteer work at the school. After finishing at the school this Sewingmom headed for the UPS Store where I mailed a package back to Illinois. This was great because they were open early and no line, unlike the local post office which I’ve grown to hate, that’s another story. Anyway, I came home and got some laundry done and took care of the dog when around 11:30 my husband called and asked me to meet him for lunch. What a nice surprise! I met him at a little Italian restaurant where we both had delicious and inexpensive lunches. I ate tortellini alfredo and a garden salad, they also had delicious fresh baked rolls for less than $6.

When we were finished with lunch I traded vehicles with my husband because I wanted to get the Texas State Inspection done on the van. I’d had the car inspected last week but still needed to do the van. We still need to get our Texas license plates on both vehicles and it’s my goal to accomplish that this week, the first step being the state inspection. Anyway, I drove the van to the inspection station and was told they were in the middle of rebooting the inspection computer but it should be done in 10-15 minutes. No problem I said, I’ll go across the road to Sonic and get a Coke and come back. Which I did. Except for the “come back” part. After sitting at Sonic for about 5 minutes I attempted to restart the engine and nothing… dead, completely. I couldn’t believe it! Here I’m doing my husband a favor so that he wouldn’t have to take time to do the inspection and the dang thing dies on me!

So, I called the inspection station since they are a full service repair station also. They were kind enough to come across the street to give me a jump. Unfortunately, the van’s engine still wouldn’t start. After several attempts, the mechanic realized that one of the posts on the battery was broken off! Apparently, whoever installed the battery tightened the post too tight and cracked it off the battery itself. Unreal! It stayed in place for a long time because I can’t even remember when we bought that battery. Over time, it finally became dislodged and it just happened to come completely loose today. They were able to get me a new battery, but the post of the old one was broken off inside the cable that mounts to the battery and they couldn’t get it out without finally having to cut it off. After three trips back and forth between the shop and my van, the mechanic was able to temporarily hook up the new battery so I could start the engine and drive it across the street where he could install a permanent bolt.

So, after all of this and 3 hours of my time, I’m told that the State inspection can’t be done until I’ve driven the vehicle a minimum of 50 miles with the new battery. Apparently the engine system has to reset itself and it takes at least 50 miles for it to do this. My entire afternoon was wasted and I didn’t even accomplish the one thing I wanted to get done!

I will say this though, the guys at Fast Lane in Allen, Texas are great. They helped me out of a real bind. They didn’t even charge me for coming across the road to help me. Without them I would have had to get a tow truck and it would’ve cost me a fortune. To the employees of Fast Lane I say Thank You!

Linked to: Electric Venom and I Think Therefore I Blog

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