Car Fixed!

It took all day, and more money than I wanted to spend, but the car is now fixed.  Unfortunately, one of the bad bearings had eaten up the axle, so that cost was tacked on, giving a total of $776.  I asked the manager if he could flex the price at all, and he knocked off $30 - not even 5%, but I'll happily pay $746 for something that I would otherwise have to pay $776.  Yes, I know I could have done this much, much cheaper if I had the tools, but there's a limit to what you can prepare for.

Concerning that very subject, I must say thank you to my brother, Eric, for pointing out my Leatherman.  He didn't realize I had already packed my Buck multitool, so he suggested I pack it, since they can come in handy.  I figured having two is better than one - especially because I often use them together as a pair of pliers, so I brought both.

Two nights ago, I spent the night at Blakely State Park, and yesterday I went for a hike to check out the battlefield there.  I had once again forgotten to charge my SLR battery enough, so it ended up dieing on the trail to the field.  Once again, I had also neglected to take my point and shoot camera as a backup, even though I was using my day pack, so it would have been easy to bring along. 

After exploring it on foot, I went back in my car to take pictures, and at one point after getting out of my car to get a shot, when I went back, the door wouldn't open.  I reached inside and locked and unlocked the door (it was unlocked still), but the door still didn't want to open.  After a brisk tug, it finally gave way, but revealed that somehow my door panel had detached, and was wedging it closed.  I was able to remove all but one of the screws in the door panel with my Buck Tool, but the last one was sunk in where the Buck Tool couldn't reach.  I remembered I had packed the Leatherman, and it allowed me to remove the screw so I could remount the door panel.

I hope this is the last of the car trouble I have.  I've had this car for 10 years, and it's not had this much trouble the whole time, but of course, I haven't driven it so far away from my tools before, either.

For now, I'm back at La Quinta for the night, then I can get back on the road tomorrow.