Columbus, OH
A belated Happy Hannukah to all our Jewish friends, a very Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends and relatives -- and Happy Holidays to anyone else!

It was the starter -- and most of you know what those cost. Oh well, now we have a new starter and battery for our snowbird stint. So if no other crises intervene, we will be flying south with the birds after new year's day. Florida first, then Texas, and we will leave Texas when the weather there starts to warm up.

Columbus, OH
Will it ever end?

Friday (the 14th) -- in between storms -- we trundled up to Jackson Center to pick up our Airstream and brought it uneventfully back to Columbus.

Then yesterday (the 15th) as the latest storm got started, we had appointments at physical therapy. We climbed in the van, only to discover that there was enough electrical power to light up the dashboard, but not enough to turn over the starter. Paul kindly jumpered the van. We went off to PT, but did not turn off the engine, and on the way home stopped at a service station. The proprietor tested the battery and opined that it was puny, so he replaced it. Van started right up, so we carefully crept through the snowstorm back to the house and holed up for the rest of the day.

This morning (the 16th) the roads were much clearer than had been predicted the night before, so we intended to take the Christmas hygiene items to the prison. Once again, the dash lit up, but the engine would not turn over. Clearly, the problem was not the battery. So we are stranded here until the dealer opens in the morning. Hopefully a jump will get us going again and we can get on with life. But if this stuff doesn't stop, we're never going to get to where it's warm.

Columbus, OH
Kharma... fate... justice... the Law of Maximum Perversity???

Saturday noon October 20th we are on our way back from the gym, southbound on the main thoroughfare, well under the 25 mph speed limit (remember, this is suburbia). As we approach a side street, a little old lady in a gray Honda Accord drove right through the stop sign without stopping, just a few feet in front of us. Of course I slammed on the brakes immediately, but despite the slow speeds involved, there wasn't enough room to stop completely.

The front of the van struck the Accord right about midships, caving in both curbside doors and the post in between -- the car ended up in a sort of a "C". On the other hand, the curbside end of the van's bumper was all scratched up, and there was a puddle of coolant underneath. The usual routine -- police were called, report made, insurance info exchanged, and insurance company phoned. We went a few blocks to an auto rental near our house, then had the van towed to the dealer from our house.

From this point on there was nothing but trouble with the insurance companies. The representative we called instructed us to have the damage repaired immediately, which we were only too happy to do -- in fact, the dealer had the bumper replaced by Tuesday. But when insurance learned that the coolant leak was from the intake manifold, they refused to accept responsibility. Weeks of arguing and phoning and eventually going to an attorney, and it still isn't settled.

Meanwhile, Bobbi had incurred whiplash, and Lew's old back injury was exacerbated. That meant PT for both of us -- and we're not done yet.

It took a month to get the van back, even without any agreement with the insurance companies. As soon as we did, we towed the Airstream to the factory in Jackson Center, to be gone over before we leave on our winter trip. We just got word that it is finished, so all we have to do is find some time between our various appointments and some decent weather to go pick it up.

Needless to say, there were no short trips to Toledo or otherwise this autumn. So we really are looking forward to joining this lady on the road: