The Automobile Mis-adventure (by Kevin)

I know this blog seems to really just belong to Lauren, but I just had to write in and tell you all about our seemingly laughable week in autos.

I know it is redundant by all means to start this story by reiterating the fact that L is 9mo's, 28 days pregnant, w/ a turkey timer for a belly button, but hey, it really adds to the drama, so....

Here we are, last Thursday.... (me) "Hello".. (L) "Uh, Kev? We have a really really big problem........*silence*..... "My car is dead"...

Here I'm thinking she just gave birth on a sidewalk in Edgewood (edge of the hood) with that first sentence. I pictured her sitting on the curb, baby in hand, umbilical cord still connected, crowd staring and one hand on the phone :). I told her later to never ever ever use that preface again because I was now ill and about to barf. I had to swallow my stomach. :)

So we come to find that her gear shifter was as disconnected and wobbly as a bobble-head and the car was just stuck at the library. I was able to drive it stuck in 2nd to the shop, thank the Lord, but also gave it a nice overheat in the process, as the cooling fan apparently was also not having its best day. The following morning we were told that unfortunately it wasn't going to be fixed until mid-week the following week because of labor day weekend, the backlog, and parts. ACK!!!!!! It's the ONLY car we have that can hold a baby seat!!!! 8-

So labor day weekend begins a search for a new vehicle. We spent all weekend scouring the Internet, going to a car show, doing quick dealership drive-by's, pouring over consumer reports data... We ended up bringing home a 2004 Buick Rainier CXL, all-wheel-drive SUV, that we really really liked, on an extended test drive. We loved it, but we found out through the help of my caring father-in-law that consumer reports rated that year a no-buy. /ugh! We spent the remainder of the weekend looking for 2005 models.

So..... we find one about 1 1/2 hrs north of us in PA, but they were closed Monday. We decided to take a ride up Tuesday night after work. So off we went last night. Things were going well on the drive... nice scenic back roads, meandering through the country, quite lovely. Suddenly..... chug...chug....chug.chug.chug.... My truck's engine sputters and shakes and gives up pushing on anything but a flat road, right at the MD/PA line. We literally just sat there looking at each other like, Nuh uh!!!!!!!!!!!!

TWO dead cars in 1 week!??!? Is that even possible??? Someone pinch me!! We came to find out Lauren's mom was praying I'd stop driving the truck because it doesn't have air-bags. Momma B, you gotta be more careful what you pray for!! For the love of Moses, here we are stranded w/ ZERO cars 30 miles from home at the PA line w/ a 9mo prego wife. It was picturesque. Its stuff stories are made of!

Thank the Lord my mom was home and available and she quickly came scurrying to get us, and whisked us up to Lancaster just before they closed for the night, whereby we were able to procure a very fine gem for a price far below all the competition we had found. We ended up getting this 2005 Buick Rainier CXL AWD which was in mint condition, and thanks to the lovely depreciation of american-made cards, we got it at about 50% its original sticker price new. Some poor shmuck bought this puppy new, drove it for 2 years and paid 50% of it for us (probably more since it was a trade-in, ouch). It is quite plush and rides like a Cadillac, but is all-wheel-drive and an SUV. Perfect combination. As someone else put it, it's the best SUV no one ever heard of. I'd never even seen one till this past week. We like the fact that its a rare car.

So now we have at least one good vehicle, and I'm borrowing my buddy Larry's truck to go to work with for now. I was so sure Lauren was going to go into labor as soon as the truck broke down at the PA line. :) That would have been straight out of Hollywood. :)