12/19/2021 – Big Breakdown
This has been a hell of a week. I had my first major breakdown as soon as I dropped Ashley off at the Charlotte Airport. My engine started shaking and I knew I had a misfire and knew I couldn’t keep going like that. I found a repair shop, Fig’s Auto Repair, and They told me that I would have to leave the van there since it was so close to closing time. I decided to keep it for the night, do laundry, and go in right away in the morning.
I set an alarm to bring it in at 7:30AM. I was the first person there and find out that the mechanics don’t get there until 8. Fine, I sit and wait. I brought my laptop in so I could play games. They get the van in around 8:30 or 9. As I suspected it was a misfire on cylinder four. They wanted to put in new spark plugs and wires. I agree and I figure it will be a quick cheap job. They tell me that with this engine, the intake is wrapped over the top of the engine so they have to take that off first. Ugh, an hour of labor and $100 or less in parts turns into four hours of labor and parts. I’m quoted $1600. That hit hard. I talked it over with the owner and I thought about driving it on five cylinders all the way home. He said that would cause way more problems. I told them to go ahead with it.
They start the job and come back a few hours later saying they can’t get two of the bolt that hold the intake on out. It gets to be around 4:30 and the owner comes up to me and give me an ultimatum. They can cut the intake off or put it back together. Since they’ve been working on it for seven or eight hours at this point he quotes me $2675 for the labor and new intake. I’m crushed at the news. If I have them put it back together, I’ll have to pay the $1400 again if I find and bring the part to them. So I’m stuck and decide it will be the least expensive if I leave it overnight and they put on the new intake. I find a hotel and uber over there for the night.
Fig’s calls me around 11AM saying they have the intake off and are starting to repair and put back together. I check out at noon and sit in the lobby thinking that they will be done shortly. I call them back at 4PM and they say they are out on a test drive. They finally call me back at quarter to five and I can come pick it up. I uber back to the shop and pay my giant bill right before they close. Even though I had a giant bill, the guys at Fig’s were really nice and they cut me as big of a break as they could. They spent 14-16 hours working on my van and only charged me for six. At least I have my van and don’t have to get another hotel.
On the 15th I drove back up to WV since I didn’t get to go t a brewery the last time. I stayed at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere. It was so nice to be in the quiet away from everything. The next morning I drove to White Sulphur Springs and went to Big Draft Brewing. The brewery was packed at 1PM on a Thursday. The brewery had a lot of good beers that I tried.
After the brewery I went over to the Greenbriar. This is a huge, famous, and highly expensive resort. 24 presidents have stayed there. The rooms go for $400 and night and you can rent out the entire place for the low low price of $250,000. I wanted to sit in the mineral baths, but they were $100 for 25 minutes. I walked around the grounds a little bit and got a pic of the main house.
After the Greenbriar I drove down to Roanoke, VA. It was raining on the 17th so I just moved on to Durham, NC. I saw a sign for a tank museum and it led me all the way around Danville, NC. The museum ended up being closed. I continued on to Durham.
I got to Durham and went to the gym to shower right away. After that I went to Clouds Brewing to watch the NDSU game. The service here was terrible. All of the staff stood in a corner and told each other stories. they had a couple of decent beers here and closed the bar down at 10:30. I found a sports bar, Devine’s, close to finish watching the game. This place was dead. I finished the game and was chatting up the few people there. All of the sudden 30 people stream in the door. I find out they are all law students and they just finished finals. I remember Duke University is here and it’s the beginning of winter break. They all leave after about a half hour and some of the off duty staff comes in. I start talking with them and we go to another bar down the road. This was a bust so I found a pool hall and finished the night there. Overall I only spent $25 so that was a win.
Yesterday I drove to Raleigh, NC and hung out all day. I didn’t do anything today either since it rained all day. Tomorrow I’m planning on exploring Raleigh.