Episode 4. Mississippi River and Uhaul.

View of Mississippi River from Grackle.

Grackle on Uhaul trailer.

Nathan loading Grackle on Uhaul trailer.

Ashley and Grackle.

      My favorite book is Mark Twain's, Huckleberry Finn. I wanted to go on the road trip for several reasons, but top on my list was to see the Mississippi River. So far, the road trip has been quite an adventure, and I felt a bit like Huck floating down the river on a small raft. So I take a picture from the window of Grackle as we pass over the Mississippi River (see photo above). Since are two days behind schedule, I wasn't able to get out and put my bare feet in the water, but I am happy to get to see it from the road.
     An hour later, we are waiting at the Uhaul store to get the truck and trailer. We decided that even though the Uhaul was over our trips budget, things could be worse if we continued abusing Grackle and our backs on the bad highways. Nathan loads up Grackle on the truck and trailer (see photo's above). I walk to a gas station that smells like ammonia and has no AC and I buy some hamburgers and waters. I bring the hamburgers back to the truck and we eat the hamburgers in the Uhaul with AC! I tell Nathan, "I would never go into that stinky gas station back home to buy us food, but we are in the middle of no where and I am hot and hungry and these hamburgers are delicious. I guess I should try some hole in the wall restaurants on occasions." He agreed and we drive home with Grackle in tow, and AC on in the Uhaul.
     We pass through lots of road work in Alabama, but the Uhaul was very comfortable for the rest of the road trip back to Georgia. We make it home that evening. We are happy to be home to feed our cats, sleep in our own bed, and most of all- to be a proud owner of a 1979 VW Rabbit that we call Grackle.

Episode 3. Raise it up!

Nathan prepares to jack up Grackle to raise the car.

Nathan removes the front tires, adjusts suspension, and raises the car. 

I 'help' to raise the passenger side.

Yellow Uhaul store in Tallulah, MS.

     In Louisiana, we sleep over night at Sleep Inn. The hot tubs were great! On the road again, we stop in at several tire stores. However, finding 165/45/15's in a small (or even a big town) was proving to be impossible. The tires were taking a beating from the bad highways and becoming so bald that we felt it was dangerous to drive on the highway. We tried another tires shop that couldn't help us, so Nathan pulls into a parking lot to raise the car, in order to save the oil pan from the bad roads. See pictures above. He raises the front end 3 1/4 inches and we cruise down the highway again. The over passes are crazy as we pass over the rivers and there is no emergency lane on the over passes. We say prayers on the over passes for sure!
     We cross into Mississippi and find a nice town, Tallulah MS, where we continue the search for tires. We stop in at McDonald's and Nathan asks an old man for directions to the tire shop. He finishes his breakfast and says, "Just follow me". We follow him to the tire shop and they couldn't fit anything on our 15 inch Porche wheels, so we follow him to the Uhaul Store (see above photo). The nice lady says the Uhaul truck is out for repair, but she gives us the main number and we locate another store about an hour away.

Episode 2. 'S' shaped fuel line

Grackle, on the side of the road.

Nathan and Mechanic working on fuel line

new fuel line

new fuel line

The first night, we drive about 45 minutes. It's almost midnight and we decide to check-in at a Day's Inn in Texas. We walk in and Nathan starts immediately talking to the older man from India at the desk about the low rider. I'm thinking- Nathan can find a friend anywhere, as long as they are talking about cars. We are grateful to get a good nights sleep, and continental breakfast with coffee. Nathan starts the car and it sounds like a cackling monster. He called the previous owner, who confirmed that she has a really cold start.
     We drive a couple hours in Texas. She seems to die every 45 minutes, but restarts. I decide we should name her Grackle, like the cackling bird we saw at the airport. We pull over on the side of the highway, because she is losing power. Nathan thinks its running out of gas, 'cause it wasn't getting fuel. I find a spot on the side of the road, as I cautiously step over the poison ivy, to use the "ladies room" while Nathan checks out the car. He starts the car again, and we cruise down the off ramp to the closest gas station and fill up. I notice that the large log cabin gas station is the only building I have seen so far, that looked like a cowboy store. I go inside to shop and there are signs everywhere "restroom out of order". I walk outside as a busload of kids get out, who were disappointed from the out of order restroom. It was kinda funny.
     We go down the road a another few miles, and Grackle skips. She is not getting fuel. He exits and stops at the abandoned gas station. We step out to ask the a man who was parked for help, but he drives away before we could. Nathan calls the previous owner, who directed him to look underneath Grackle, in front of the rear passenger side wheel for a kinked fuel line. He diagnosed correctly. We wondered what we should do since we are in the middle of nowhere. I stand around and a man drives up in a Infinity SUV and offers to help, saying that he is a mechanic from Trinidad and lives in Texas. He gets some tools out of his car, cuts the fuel line as gas pours out on his sleeve. He clamps the shortened line and rigs it with a pliers- using the pliers like tie ties (see photo above). The car is so low that the pliers reach the ground, so Nathan tapes the pliers to the fuel line using electrical tape. The man has us follow him to the closest auto store, as he navigates on his iphone. The front of the car scrapes on the ground as we turn around in a gas station and also scrapes when we cross the intersection. We pass two major auto parts stores who are closed on Sunday, and find an open store called ABC auto parts. ABC doesn't have the right plastic adapters for the line, so The mechanic finds the right line, and Nathan found the right adapters that were metal while I find the tie ties. I purchase the parts while the guys  begin to work on the fuel line. I step outside as the mechanic cuts the fuel line. Gas pours out all over his face and arms, but he keeps working and installs the fuel line making a 's' shape in the line so it wont kink. He asks Nathan to start the car. It tries to start for a few seconds, then the gas comes through the line and the car starts! We are so happy that it works. I ask the mechanic, "Can we take you out to eat, or pay you for your work?" He says, "I am really late for work, but I am hungry. Maybe you can give me some gas money." I give him enough cash to fill his tank and say, "Thank you. Maybe you are an angel from Trinidad, since our prayers were answered through your help. We really appreciate it." He gives us directions to 20-E, and we drive the Grackle out of Texas.

Episode 1. Timing belt in Texas

So this is where the story begins. My husband and I fly from Georgia to Texas to purchase him a 1979 VW Rabbit. As soon as we walk outside the airport, we notice a iridescent blackbird greeting us with a cackle. The seller picks us up at the airport in his new Toyota. He tells us that the Grackle birds (the same iridescent bird we saw earlier) were migrating through Texas, leaving bird doo all over his car. We laugh and strike up a friendship. As it turns out, all three of us were born in the same year and have the same last name. So when we get to finally arrive at his residence to see the car that we flew halfway across the country for. Nathan, my husband, who is the handsome guy in the photo with a hat and black socks- looks under the hood. He notices that the timing belt is totally frayed, and says that there is no way we can make it to Georgia with that timing belt. So the seller makes some calls, and finds a shop that can replace it that afternoon. Nathan and I drive the Toyota, following the seller in the Rabbit. We get to the repair shop ( see photos above), and the mechanic replaces the timing belt and belt tensioner pulley. There was a kid with a low rider at the mechanic shop who loved the low rider and said, "You need to raise the car if you are going to make it to Georgia on these roads. " In hindsight, we should have listened to his advise. In the mean time, the seller drives us to get some food. We decided to get some real Tex Mex food- right in our price range- Taco Bell's, Dorito taco. We arrive back and pick up the repaired VW and return to the sellers house. I am invited inside to meet his wife and kids and they fed me vegan cupcakes and OJ while Nathan got all the spare parts for the VW. We write out the bill of sale, purchase the car and drive away saying, "See you at the next family reunion!" We drive away (I am riding in the car for the first time) carefully. The oil pan was only 1 1/2 inches from the road, so we take every pothole very seriously. Despite the smell of old car and leaky gas cap- we are having fun. We scream over the loud exhaust, "Roadtrip!"