"Blazer" Lives Up To Its Name

Dudes and Dudettes,

I come to you with the gravest of news. The Chevy Blazer that I called my own private vehicle has officially crapped out. It's kaput. It's dead. Done. Game over, man, game over. At approximately 8:00pm last night (Thursday night) I left for Jacksonville (as mentioned in "Holiday Inn Excess"). Well I woke up at 7:00am today and ate my continental breakfast and went out to start on my epic journey...again.

The tow truck showed up, towing me poopy Blazer to a nice little hole-in-the-wall repair shop where a nameless grease-monkey in an dark olive muscle shirt and oily cargo pants determined immediately the problem resided in the shitty battery I had and the fact I was two quarts low on oil and engine coolant (which, coincidentally explained the consistently fickle air conditioning issues I had been having.) These fluids were replaced and the battery was replaced with a brand new Interstate battery.

It was only 100 miles from that point to get to Atlantic Beach for a gargantuan family reunion (on my Father's side incidentally). Well the mysterious clicking sound I had heard the night before (the audible harbinger to immediate system shut-down in the Blazer) had returned. And then, a mere 30 miles from the hotel where the Reunion takes place, my Blazer repeated its fatal crsah, in the middle of a four-lane highway. I managed to restart the vehicle and get it safely off the road before it died again...this time for good I'm told.

The coolant and oil (that had both been replaced an hour before, if you recall) had all fried away and gone off into the wind as stinky smoke. When towed to a nearby mechanic, they discovered the rings in the engine were shot, and had two recommendations.

One: $4,500 replacement/rebuilding of the engine...
Two: Fill it up with new fluids and sell it at a wholesale auction IMMEDIATELY.

Moral of the story: I'm stuck in Jacksonville with no car, and if I make it back to Tallahassee in a timely manner then I'll have no vehicle, no job, and be shit out of luck. So...yeah, that's where my life stands right now.

Peace out.