Our Workhorse is Down. :-(

We try to live a frugal life (not entirely by choice) and one of the things where we keep living costs down is by being a one car family.
Our mini van is a total workhorse for us, and considering the number of miles on it, it runs really well.
Until Labor Day weekend.

On a trip to Pennsylvania to go to a wedding, we were just too proud of ourselves for A. being up early and hitting the road on schedule and B. being on track to be early to this wedding, and not late.
Just a few miles after being amazed that we would be nearly an hour early, the van made a high pitched whining sound as we exited a road, and then when it was time to go again, didn't.
It is the transmission. Cha ching$$!

For once in our lives, we have a second car, thanks to our son's recent marriage and relocation to Europe!
Thank the Lord!

It is not quite the vehicle ideally suited to bring our auction goodies home. Norb went to an auction last week and before unloading it, there wasn't really even room in it for a purse! And later this week is a double auction, where he goes to two PA auctions, one day after another. Normally that means a night in a hotel, but this time, he will come back home after the first auction (which normally ends around 9:30 PM), unload the car, grab a few hours of sleep, get up early, and go back for the second auction (which starts at noon.)
Kind of a tough schedule, but he will do it and then crash after he gets home from the second auction.

We think that we can see where the $$$ is coming from to fix the transmission; we just have to bide our time for it to get here. We have been told that if we keep the timing belt changed every 100,000 miles, and we might have to do the same with the transmission, this van will go for many more miles than we have on it now.

That is what we hope to do!