What can 35 cents buy for you?
Sunday, August 24, 2008 (19:19:09)

Posted by gabe

My wife and I were making a trip back from visiting my mom (grandma) in California. We have a van for the trips around town that require a few more seats and a little more room so the kids aren't at each others throats while we're driving. We also have a portable TV that plugs into the cigarette lighter to keep the kids occupied for those long trips. As we were driving back across the desert, all of a sudden the TV and radio stopped working. The power inverter wouldn't work. It seemed like the whole console on the van gave out. Fortunately, the AC was still working. It was bad enough that the TV and radio stopped working but if the AC had gone, I think we would have gone insane.

Anyways, we're driving along singing a song and realizing we're up doo-doo creek without a paddle. We get home and unload everything. Thus begins the trial of trying to figure out what happened. Basically, we found that fuses for those areas were blown out. So I go buy more fuses and put them in. Turn the key and pop goes the fuses again. Apparently, I'm thinking there's something wrong with the electrical system. So it's time for a trip to the service center since I don't know where the problem is in the electrical system.

Needless to say, $1400 later, I find out that my youngest son who is 2 years old has put 35 cents into the cars CD player. He had stuffed the coins into the slot. This was actually shorting out the whole front panel and cost us a pretty penny. In case you're wondering, the $1400 wasn't just for them to find the loose change. They also did a 60,000 mile service on the vehicle while it was there. We also found that the brakes and motor mounts needed to be replaced. Happy Happy! Joy Joy!

So what does 35 cents buy you?? It bought me a 6 hour trip in a car with 2 screaming kids and $1400 in repair work. Someone please put me out of misery.