Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - Van Repair Day

Woke up during the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep, finally did, then slept through past 9:30. After breakfast, Hubby went out and worked on the van to find the problem, and concluded it was the alternator. I was a bit concerned that it might be too late to find a shop that could do the job so late, but we were planning on leaving tomorrow so we didn’t really have much of a choice. I jumped in the van and headed down to Shippensburg, the nearest town, about 10 miles away. Once I got there, and had a great signal, I googled auto repair and got a long list. The first review was for a Gulf station, and the reviews were excellent, so I headed there, less than a mile away. Pulled in, asked if they had a mechanic on duty, rec’d the response YES, and I headed in to talk with him. What a fantastic place! Really clean, very nice, and they had an open bay so in it went! I headed into the waiting room and started taking care of business, and before I knew it, the van was parked outside the window in front of me! It took barely an hour to get the job done, and was very reasonably priced as well. Had a nice chat with the other woman in the waiting room, then I ended up hanging around another 30-45 minutes just to get more work done. Finally headed back to the camp, arriving about 3:30, much earlier than either of us had expected, but thrilled that we could leave on schedule tomorrow. Started putting stuff away, cleaned up the yard where the horses have been grazing, and generally tidied up in preparation for our departure. Need to get out early early tomorrow, a long day with several stops along the way, including a place to get our propane tanks recertified. Though the guy at Agway had said it would take two weeks for a fee (so why don’t you buy a new tank from us...?), the woman at Augusta Petroleum in Staunton said they could do it immediately and for free! Looking forward to finding out if that’s true! Relaxed for the evening, ready to get up early.