Thanksgiving Fiasco, the Day After...

If you didn't read my last post, the last time we checked in with our hero (me) he was stranded in Florida with a leaky transmission cooler on Thanksgiving.  Let's see where he ended up...

The most I could do that Thanksgiving day, was surf on my phone for some prices of transmission coolers, call family and have them search on-line for transmission coolers, and chat with a Toyota dealer that was surprisingly working on Thanksgiving...if you want to buy a car, but not if you are looking for a transmission cooler.  The nice lady did take my information and say that someone would call me first thing the next day.  It's been four weeks, I will let you know when they call.  We found plenty of decently priced upgrades on-line for our Toyota, which would have been easy to install had we been at my house where I had the tools to do the modifications for the mounting.  What I was able determine on-line is that no one makes a stock replacement for that part, except Toyota.

We decide that this is supposed to be my triumphant return to a non-cancer influenced life, and if we can get the car fixed for under $500, we will let the dealership do it, otherwise I will handle it.  First thing Friday, I made sure my phone was on, because the dealer I chatted with was open, but I hadn't received a call yet.  So, I called them.  They politely told me they didn't have the part, and that was pretty much the end of that.  I called the next closest Toyota dealer, who was a lot more helpful.  They searched the whole state to find one for me and came up with one an hour away.  What a relief!  Oh, and by the way, it was almost $500 for the part alone.  Guess I better find the tools....

So I came up with a plan, my wife and our friend that lives down there would run and get the part while I tore the Highlander apart waiting for the replacement transmission cooler.  They would return soon, and I would slap in the part, we would breathe a sigh of relief, and everything would be right in the world and I could resume my non-cancer influenced celebration.

My wife also came up with a plan, that I didn't know about.  Her and our friend would go pick up the part, stopping at every Black Friday sale between Sarasota and Pinellas Park on the way, and stopping at any they missed on the way back.

I worked on my plan...

They bought shoes.  I waited around, getting hungry.  They bought more shoes.  I was hoping they would bring lunch home with the part any minute now.  They called and said they just made it to the dealership.  I secretly ordered pizza.  They ate...well, I don't really care where they ate, I was starving, my pizza was good, I don't care if I get in trouble for ordering too much, that's what you do when you are hungry and you haven't been able to get groceries because your car broke down as soon as you got there and even if you wanted to drive somewhere close to get something you can't because the whole front end of the car is off and so you are stuck!!!!  (Whew!  Yes, I know that is a run-on sentence, but it expresses how I was feeling.)  The ladies did find their way back and called to ask if I wanted lunch.  I said, "No, let's just get this done."  We quickly slap the part on and all of the snap-on body panels that I busted my remaining ball trying to take off without breaking were...well, a snap to put back on.  The whole thing went together surprisingly quick and the car was good as new!  Just as we are both admiring my work, and I am thinking I will get away with the "pizza incident" so long as she never looks in the fridge, the neighbor that loaned me some tools comes over to make sure we're OK, and asks how the pizza was.  DAMMIT!!  My cover was blown.  And then she went in and stole two pieces of my remaining pizza...and breadsticks!!!

So, slight setback, but now we were OK to resume my normal life...or so I thought....