Finally home, and the dogs are lounging around the house with me. So good to walk in to a clean house, but it sure is musty. My car is still on the rack in Odessa, TX.

I hit something as I was exiting to get gas. It was about the size of a Kleenex box, the 120 tissue size, not the 250 or 360 box. It was just there in the dark, and as I got to the bottom of the ramp I thought I'd have to check my tire. But the car wouldn't move, the engine just revved. I put it in low and finally got it into the truck stop parking lot and ended up sleeping there till morning when I figured I could get it go to (it was like driving a standard without first or second gear). I got to Chevy (on a Saturday morning) but their transmission guy wasn't in. They said it was my transmission, but I told them I just hit something, wasn't it more likely a messed up brake or a line of some sort? No, they said. I called around and Aamco said they'd test, and he said my first and second gears were gone. They'd have to work on it the next week, maybe finished by Friday.

I called friends from the area - turns out they are 3+ hours away. He came up and picked me up, we shopped a little and headed to their second property in the Davis Mountains, the one that has a flush toilet and regular shower (they stay mostly on the other property but have no room for guests and use a composting toilet which they find some people don't figure out how to use very easily). They live a few miles away (as the crow flies) but it is about 30 miles by road. This was a huge favor they did me. We got together a few of the days, she works in Odessa and spends Friday evening through Monday afternoon there (works as a nurse night shift at the local hospital). I rode back to town with her today, and at Aamco the guy looked up from his desk "it isn't ready." I couldn't stay in the sticks any longer, I have dogs, a house, a job . . . I rented a car and drove the 7+ hours home tonight. Why didn't I fly or drive home before? The flights plus shuttles would be expensive and I didn't know how long I'd have to rent the car, so I gambled that it would be done in a week and I could just stay nearby. I hoped he might call earlier in the week and tell me it was ready. Didn't happen.

It seems that "there is something else wrong." When the transmission isn't connected to anything it works right, but when they connect up the wires, it doesn't work. There is something electronic wrong that made the transmission fail. "You mean like that thing on the road that I told you I hit?" Next week Aamco is going to have to consult with Chevy and do something about that electronic part that has been damaged. He said if they'd known this electronic thing was wrong Aamco wouldn't have touched it. Now they're stuck with it. The pricetag isn't going to be pretty.

I hit a small blockly object in the road as I was exiting in the dark where there was no overhead light to show the exit. This to me counts as "road hazard," and I hope my insurance company agrees. I asked the Aamco guy to document what he finds - I know what happened, but it needs to be shown on paper. And then I need to see if my policy covers this.

So that is my story. I left here on May 13 to see my son graduate in Tucson. Driving was going to be cheaper than flying and I could bring some of his stuff back with me and I planned to be home on May 17. Most of that stuff is still in the back of the car on it's rack and I rolled into the driveway early on May 24. I have to take this rental car back and get my car when it is finally finished sometime next week, I hope.

This was the slowest week I ever remember. The house was so remote that there was no cell phone (okay, I admit, I'm an addict and accustomed to being connected). They have one Internet plan for two houses so the Internet can't be up at both places at the same time. I got online enough at first to let people know what was going on and make sure my dogs were fed and my garden watered, but mostly I walked around, took photos, wrote, cooked, and slept. A couple of those walks were with the next door neighbor, we met on the road and started talking. He's a wildlife artist and definitely eccentric. The second evening I went out for a walk I think he was out waiting around - having someone to talk to who hasn't heard all of his stories was a real treat and I didn't mind being an interested listener.

It was good to have the downtime, but it's better to be able to "relax" by choice rather than by events beyond one's control. Staying with my friends saved me hundreds of dollars because there are no hotels to be had in the Permian Basin with the oil and gas boom. And those you do get (on the weekends when the guys head out of town) are inflated way above normal. Motel 6 usually comes in around $50 with taxes, but that one out there starts at $92 but they never have rooms.

These are good friends I stayed with, I enjoyed spending time catching up. I need to repay them for their kindness and their gasoline, for starters. I made a list of things that I can send out, and I'll send something for gas once the bills are paid for all of this.

Odessa is awful. It's flat and dusty and stinks of oil. Every bush along the highway is crusted with plastic grocery bags. The town is full of oil field workers who have come in from literally around the world to do the roughneck work on oil rigs. My friend is a nurse in the orthopedic department of the local hospital, and she said the roughnecks get paid, they get high or drunk, then they drive and kill people and kill or injure themselves. It's hard to get anything done in town (like auto repairs) because the businesses are swamped and they have a hard time keeping employees.

This afternoon my friend dropped me at the shop where my car was not finished. I called one car rental place and everything was rented for the holiday weekend. I called another, and asked if they could pick me up. She started to describe how to find them, and I said "you don't understand, I'm not from here, I don't know my way around, my car isn't fixed, and I have to get home." She closed the counter and came and got me - this whole trip I was so lucky to have generous people there to help. It was about 10 minutes away from the shop, but it was a world of help that she would do this. I signed the papers and handed her a $20 (the largest bill I had - if I'd had a $50, it would have been hers).

I drove home, my dogs were so glad to see me, and after a shower I will sleep in my own bed. I'm still kind of wired from the drive and the caffeine, but this is my story.

SRS