Madisonville, TX??

So we're leaving Texas today. Well we were going to be leaving Texas today...

I went in for my last day of work this morning around 7.30 and had a good time saying good bye to the people I worked with and finishing up some of the projects I was working on. Carrie was home finishing up the little bit of packing that we had to do still and we finished all of the cleaning last night so we'd be all set to hit the road around noon and drive a good 8 or 9 hours of the trip today. In total it's about a 22 hour drive and we planned on stopping in Amarillo tonight and making the rest of the trip on Friday - arriving late Friday evening.

All went well (except that my promise of making it home right at 11 didn't quite work out.. I was a few minutes late thanks to an extra long interview at work) and we got checked out of our apartment around noon. I popped on the shades and we hit the road. Made it out of Houston fine and pulled over about an hour and a half later for a quick bite of lunch in Madisonville.

It's a nice town. Main Street is a few hundred yards long maybe (yes, it's paved) and there are a few gas stations with "half fast-food restaurants" connected to them. Taco Bell's value menu is absolutely awesome and we ate there. More food than both of us could handle for less than 6 bucks! Can't complain about that. Gassed up the car and hit the highway. The AC had been acting up for a few miles before we stopped for lunch so we were a little worried about it, but figured we could survive without the AC -- Carrie made the comment that at least it was just the AC and nothing worse.

Famous last words I guess...

About 2 miles out of town the temperature gauge hit the red line and so I pulled off the freeway and checked under the hood. I always love doing that. Pretend like I know what's going on. This time something was definitely wrong, though, cause there was coolant all over. The radiator, cap, and thermostat blew up. So, we did some crafty coasting back into town and luckily found a mechanic who is going to get it fixed for us. No parts available anywhere near here though, so hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they can get us a new radiator in from somewhere and get us fixed up. This is the second time that the radiator cap has blown on the car in the last 3 years, so it's time to take it into the dealership in UT and see what's causing the issue here. Hopefully they'll pay for any fixes that need to be made so it doesn't happen a third time. Isn't that what a bumper-to-bumper warranty means? I'm just going to go out on a limb now and say that there's no way in heck they pay for anything. Worthless warranties...

Anyway, we're checked into the only available room in town which happens to be a Best Western. I don't know why they only had one room available cause this town is tiny, but it's a king suite. We'll be sleeping in style tonight. Thank you for being the only available room cause otherwise there's no way I'd ever pay more to stay in this room! Not that king suite means that much in a Best Western... I think the only difference is that there's a small sofa and table in here instead of a second bed. Haha. Gotta love it. Gotta increase the margins somehow, right?

So, keep those fingers crossed. We're hoping for a new radiator tomorrow morning and to hit the road around 11 or 12. Maybe stop in Amarillo for the night or push on through to Albuquerque and stay there. Then it looks like we'll get home Sat. night.

Texas is still awesome in my eyes. Unless we break down again tomorrow that shouldn't change!