Roy
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LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-18 AT 04:24PM (MST)[p]Well, since our kids had a longer Christmas break than normal - they go back on 1/8/18 - we decided that last week would be a good week to take off and go to Orlando and go to the Universal parks for a couple of days. The plan was to leave on Friday 12/29 and have a nice 12 hour drive to Destin, Fl on Day 1, then onto Orlando on Day 2 and spend Days 3 and 4 in the park, then drive back on days 5 and 6,getting back somewhere in the evening of 1/3. Then have a vacation day at home on 1/4, get the Christmas lights put up, get some other chores done and then head back to work on 1/5 and 1/6.
To prepare for the journey, I took my wife's 2010 Buick Enclave in for some routine service work about 2 weeks prior to the trip, ended up having to do some pretty heavy work - motor mounts were collapsed, water pump needed replaced to fix a coolant leak, also had a gasket on the oil pan that was leaking that needed replaced. About $2300 worth of work total - but 100% covered by the extended warranty. Added on an oil change and new front brake pads and rotors and in total with the deductible only paid $428 or so. Also had to put a new set of tires on in early December to the tune of $850. Just what it costs to own a car, and it was budgeted for so we were glad to get the work done and confident the car was in tip-top shape.
So we leave on Friday 12/29 around 9:30AM and everything is going well until we hit the middle of Louisiana and then smell something burning. At first I thought it was a car on the side of the road and then it went away so I thought all is good. A few miles later we get a code on the instrument panel that says "Service Charging System" - didn't immediately correlate the two until I got it shut down in Gulfport, MS and could still smell the burning when I opened the hood. Anyway to make a long long long story short - we limped in to Destin, Fl where we had a hotel reservation for the night took it to the local dealership in Ft. Walton Beach the next day with a dead battery and dead alternator. And of course, since, it was 12/30 they weren't going to get it looked at until Tuesday. So we got a rental car and continued on our journey to Orlando. Saw the parks, did the whole Harry Potter thing (the butter beer alone made it worth it - stuff is good!) with the kids and had a great New Year's Eve and and cold and wet New Year's Day. Got up early on Tuesday and started driving back to Destin to hopefully pick up our car.
Turns out the previous work had somehow caused the bolt on the alternator to come loose and it fried the cable going from the alternator to the fuse box which had drained the battery and shorted out the alternator. So by the time it took them to get all the parts, and have the inspector from the warranty company come out and look at it and authorize the work, and then figure out we need a new starter too and to bill another $2300 to the warranty company to actually get the work done, it was Friday 1/5/2018 at 11:30AM. But the car was done. So. We Took back the rental, grabbed some lunch and hit the road at 1:20PM - just in time to roll up to the house at 1:51AM this morning 1/6/2018.
So, I spent a week in Destin, could only wade in the water, didn't see any turtles, or catch any fish, but man I made some great plans for when I go back!!
A great time was had by all:
HOOK 'EM!
_______________________________________
Since I am frequently asked about my religion on this site and others, I have created a profile that explains my beliefs. If you are interested in finding out more about my faith, please visit the link below:
http://mormon.org/me/6RNQ/
To prepare for the journey, I took my wife's 2010 Buick Enclave in for some routine service work about 2 weeks prior to the trip, ended up having to do some pretty heavy work - motor mounts were collapsed, water pump needed replaced to fix a coolant leak, also had a gasket on the oil pan that was leaking that needed replaced. About $2300 worth of work total - but 100% covered by the extended warranty. Added on an oil change and new front brake pads and rotors and in total with the deductible only paid $428 or so. Also had to put a new set of tires on in early December to the tune of $850. Just what it costs to own a car, and it was budgeted for so we were glad to get the work done and confident the car was in tip-top shape.
So we leave on Friday 12/29 around 9:30AM and everything is going well until we hit the middle of Louisiana and then smell something burning. At first I thought it was a car on the side of the road and then it went away so I thought all is good. A few miles later we get a code on the instrument panel that says "Service Charging System" - didn't immediately correlate the two until I got it shut down in Gulfport, MS and could still smell the burning when I opened the hood. Anyway to make a long long long story short - we limped in to Destin, Fl where we had a hotel reservation for the night took it to the local dealership in Ft. Walton Beach the next day with a dead battery and dead alternator. And of course, since, it was 12/30 they weren't going to get it looked at until Tuesday. So we got a rental car and continued on our journey to Orlando. Saw the parks, did the whole Harry Potter thing (the butter beer alone made it worth it - stuff is good!) with the kids and had a great New Year's Eve and and cold and wet New Year's Day. Got up early on Tuesday and started driving back to Destin to hopefully pick up our car.
Turns out the previous work had somehow caused the bolt on the alternator to come loose and it fried the cable going from the alternator to the fuse box which had drained the battery and shorted out the alternator. So by the time it took them to get all the parts, and have the inspector from the warranty company come out and look at it and authorize the work, and then figure out we need a new starter too and to bill another $2300 to the warranty company to actually get the work done, it was Friday 1/5/2018 at 11:30AM. But the car was done. So. We Took back the rental, grabbed some lunch and hit the road at 1:20PM - just in time to roll up to the house at 1:51AM this morning 1/6/2018.
So, I spent a week in Destin, could only wade in the water, didn't see any turtles, or catch any fish, but man I made some great plans for when I go back!!
A great time was had by all:
HOOK 'EM!
_______________________________________
Since I am frequently asked about my religion on this site and others, I have created a profile that explains my beliefs. If you are interested in finding out more about my faith, please visit the link below:
http://mormon.org/me/6RNQ/
