Long story short, my dear dad has always been known in close family circles as Clark W. Griswald. He struggles with family vacations, dislikes taking Aunt Edna places, and sometimes gets a little out of control with the outdoor holiday lighting. Regardless of how “Clarky” my dad can be, today, on our way to Jellystone Park, Ross and I far surpased any true Griswald moment.
You see, Ross’ car has been on it’s last leg for some time. We’ve declared it terminal and are just patiently waiting for it’s passing. Well, today may have been the equivalent of us pulling the plug and now we’re just sitting waiting for it to stop breathing.
As we were on the road driving to West Yellowstone, the transmission light came on in Ross’ car. Now, Ross isn’t one to worry about warning lights so we kept driving. We had to, we were in the middle of nowhere Idaho. Where were we going to stop? As the hills got more hilly and the light continued to burn red, we decided to stop in Poke-your-fella (Pocatello) to get gas, stretch our legs and check out the potential transmission issues. Luckily, Clark and crew were behind us and they exited the freeway to help us out.
This is where the fun begins. The transmission fluid is supposed to be a pretty shade of pinky-red. It was a nice sludgy brown. The car was giving off the smell of a cooking car and the back window was wearing a nice film of oil. At this point, I got on the phone w/ Haley and James and Ross called his brother Craig. Both of our car experts told us we were in trouble. We could keep going, but probably risked some serious damage to the car and a potential “transmission drop”. I wasn’t interested in a transmission drop today so we decided to try our luck renting a car.
There are a few minor problems with renting a car in Pocatello Idaho on the Saturday of the final weekend of summer. The rental car place in town closed at noon. The jiffy lube (for a potential transmission flush) closed at 5:00. We rolled into town at 5:15. Business establishments were closing on us left and right but luckily we found an open gas station with a phone book. The airport (did you know Pocatello has an airport?) has rental cars and Ross spoke with the owner of the Avis rental and he said he’d meet us at the airport and rent us a car.
The airport is small, the white chevy impala ss is fast and cheap (only $42.99 a day), and once we got everything loaded up we were on our way.
If this is how our weekend jaunt to Yellowstone is starting out, we’re in for the trip of our lives.
Here’s the real question though. How do we transport the terminal truckster back home for internment?
You see, Ross’ car has been on it’s last leg for some time. We’ve declared it terminal and are just patiently waiting for it’s passing. Well, today may have been the equivalent of us pulling the plug and now we’re just sitting waiting for it to stop breathing.
As we were on the road driving to West Yellowstone, the transmission light came on in Ross’ car. Now, Ross isn’t one to worry about warning lights so we kept driving. We had to, we were in the middle of nowhere Idaho. Where were we going to stop? As the hills got more hilly and the light continued to burn red, we decided to stop in Poke-your-fella (Pocatello) to get gas, stretch our legs and check out the potential transmission issues. Luckily, Clark and crew were behind us and they exited the freeway to help us out.
This is where the fun begins. The transmission fluid is supposed to be a pretty shade of pinky-red. It was a nice sludgy brown. The car was giving off the smell of a cooking car and the back window was wearing a nice film of oil. At this point, I got on the phone w/ Haley and James and Ross called his brother Craig. Both of our car experts told us we were in trouble. We could keep going, but probably risked some serious damage to the car and a potential “transmission drop”. I wasn’t interested in a transmission drop today so we decided to try our luck renting a car.
There are a few minor problems with renting a car in Pocatello Idaho on the Saturday of the final weekend of summer. The rental car place in town closed at noon. The jiffy lube (for a potential transmission flush) closed at 5:00. We rolled into town at 5:15. Business establishments were closing on us left and right but luckily we found an open gas station with a phone book. The airport (did you know Pocatello has an airport?) has rental cars and Ross spoke with the owner of the Avis rental and he said he’d meet us at the airport and rent us a car.
The airport is small, the white chevy impala ss is fast and cheap (only $42.99 a day), and once we got everything loaded up we were on our way.
If this is how our weekend jaunt to Yellowstone is starting out, we’re in for the trip of our lives.
Here’s the real question though. How do we transport the terminal truckster back home for internment?
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