Not at the Dolly Sods
Friday I went out shopping for the backpacking trip. I searched Winchester high and low for a replacement hat, as I lost mine the week before. The search was futile, so I returned to Front Royal for food. I picked up some trail mix and some additional dried fruit to add to it. I got some Korr/Lipton sides for dinner as they're so much cheaper than the Backcountry Pantry and Mountain House meals. Then I swung over to Martins and picked up some food for Shadow and hard cider for the evening.
Back at camp, I had left-over pizza for dinner and waited until Suzy arrived to take us all to the haunted house in Luray. The house was pretty nicely put together. Apparently, its the best in the area and people from all over come to see it. But there were few people there that night as it was homecoming in Page County, and probably in others as well. After the haunted house, we all went back to camp and hung out, drank, played pool, and had a good time.
I woke up yesterday to my alarm and quickly hit the snooze button about 6 times. It was alright, though. The weather was supposed to be dreary until shortly after noon, so there was no rush to get out. By the time I was all packed and ready to head out, I think it was 9:30.
Then I made it to Front Royal and my car stalled out on me. It was slow to start back up so I thought maybe the battery was dead, but that wouldn't make sense. The temperature gauge read hot. Perhaps I was overdue for an oil change, or I had an oil leak. I managed to get it to Jiffy Lube .2 miles away and they took a look at it. Oil levels looked fine. The car was smoking. They though it was a cracked head gasket, which they couldn't do anything about. They cooled it down and sent me to a mechanic on the other end of town, which really isn't that far away. So I slowly chugged my way to the garage. But power was out in most of the town, so there wasn't much he could do. The power eventually DID come on and they took a look at it, found that there was pressure built up in the coolant and thought it could be a cracked head, if not a cracked head gasket.
Great. More bad news.
They couldn't service it, so I called a tow truck and had it brought to the Subaru dealer in Winchester where they confirmed high levels of hydrocarbons in the coolant. To fix the head gaskets was an estimated $2100. And then I was waiting at the dealer until about 6:00 when Erin was actually able to get to me.
Yarrr. At least my parents are willing to help me out so I don't bear the brunt of the expense all at once.
So, the short of it is I am not backpacking on this beautiful long weekend, but instead spending it with my lovely fiancé. The Dolly Sodds trip will have to wait until the spring and I will have to look for foliage elsewhere. Hopefully I won't be looking for a new car.
Back at camp, I had left-over pizza for dinner and waited until Suzy arrived to take us all to the haunted house in Luray. The house was pretty nicely put together. Apparently, its the best in the area and people from all over come to see it. But there were few people there that night as it was homecoming in Page County, and probably in others as well. After the haunted house, we all went back to camp and hung out, drank, played pool, and had a good time.
I woke up yesterday to my alarm and quickly hit the snooze button about 6 times. It was alright, though. The weather was supposed to be dreary until shortly after noon, so there was no rush to get out. By the time I was all packed and ready to head out, I think it was 9:30.
Then I made it to Front Royal and my car stalled out on me. It was slow to start back up so I thought maybe the battery was dead, but that wouldn't make sense. The temperature gauge read hot. Perhaps I was overdue for an oil change, or I had an oil leak. I managed to get it to Jiffy Lube .2 miles away and they took a look at it. Oil levels looked fine. The car was smoking. They though it was a cracked head gasket, which they couldn't do anything about. They cooled it down and sent me to a mechanic on the other end of town, which really isn't that far away. So I slowly chugged my way to the garage. But power was out in most of the town, so there wasn't much he could do. The power eventually DID come on and they took a look at it, found that there was pressure built up in the coolant and thought it could be a cracked head, if not a cracked head gasket.
Great. More bad news.
They couldn't service it, so I called a tow truck and had it brought to the Subaru dealer in Winchester where they confirmed high levels of hydrocarbons in the coolant. To fix the head gaskets was an estimated $2100. And then I was waiting at the dealer until about 6:00 when Erin was actually able to get to me.
Yarrr. At least my parents are willing to help me out so I don't bear the brunt of the expense all at once.
So, the short of it is I am not backpacking on this beautiful long weekend, but instead spending it with my lovely fiancé. The Dolly Sodds trip will have to wait until the spring and I will have to look for foliage elsewhere. Hopefully I won't be looking for a new car.