Car & Winterization

So firstly, I discovered a new word today... Bloggable: to be worthy of a blog entry.

OK, the car situation. I've been getting more and more information thrown at me about the car since this whole thing started. The very first thing I was told was that I wanted a "beater with a (block) heater", probably 4x4. OK, this made sense.

So I started looking into selling my car (Nissan X-terra 4x4, that I LOVE). Very quickly there were 2 interested parties that were friends or friends of friends. My dad also called in the cavalry. A friend from a past working gig now lives in Seattle and is apparently very good at research. She also has daughters and understood the drive to do things the parental way when your kid's moving practically halfway across the globe (OK, slight exaggeration there). She came through with a TON of useful information and some info I'd never thought of before. For instance, older 4x4's are money pits. When I take a minute to think about it, it makes sense. There are more thing involved mechanically and most people don't get to truly use the 4x4 parts enough for them to be lubed etc. So to get a 4x4 that's not a complete pit yet, our dear Seattle helper did a search in that area for vehicles that fit the very flexible descriptions we needed catered to, only to find out that the replacement cars I'd be looking at were more expensive than what I already had and I know the condition and how to drive my vehicle. With this information, we started wondering if it might be better for me to keep my X-terra and just worry about it being transported up there (which is covered in my relocation, it'll just take up a large portion of it).

Within 24 hours of this new info from Seattle, I had the 2 interested buyers both inform me that for whatever reason, it wasn't going to work out. call it fate or kismet, or divine intervention. Whatever way you want to slice it, it's looking more and more like I'm keeping my truck and taking it with me.

Now, the next most important thing is winterization. I was sent a little list which included: heater for the engine block, transmission and radiator, grill cover and replacement of fluids to cold weather fluids. I called 6 places here in Norfolk, then I called my brother and asked him if he knew of anywhere that might do it since he used to work for a mechanic in the area, then i called an uncle in KY since I'll be there next month and figured I'd see if he knew anybody. Nothing. I even had the Nissan dealership tell me the only thing I'd need was to change out my fluids and check my belts, etc.. I had to inform him that where I was going was cold enough that I'd in fact need more than that. Oy.

Now for the Cherry- I finally got so fed up with no's that I decided to call one of the auto-repair places in Bethel to ask and see if they might be able to do it sometime over the summer and I found out that not only can they, it's quick (couple hours) and easy and the whole thing'll probably only cost me about $400-500.  So now, all I have to do is get the darn thing there. Still waiting on quotes from moving company, and I may not know for sure till after the survey. Who knows.

Alright, onto the dungeon of boxes.