IRONDAYS: The Quest is half the battle . . .

The race report is on its way, but in the meantime, here are some of the events leading up to the race. (I will try and keep this short)

Wednesday 8-26-09: Amy, Kloden and I headed to Wendy's to grab some food before returning home to pack and then load the Nissan Quest (see my play on words in the title . . .I am very sneaky). Well, after we ate we got back in the Quest it would not start. . .great!! Call my dad and he goes to our house and grabs the Excursion (yes that is right, we own a 2000 Ford Excursion V10 4x4 and it did not even qualify for the Clunker program) to come pick us up. .. well before he gets there, the Quest starts and we head for home. When we get back, we pop the hood and see that the battery terminal is all corroded and needs replaced, my dad and I replaced the terminal and that seemed to fix the problem. . . or at least we thought.

Thursday 8-27-09: Woke up, went and swam and then headed home to get the family and head out at around 7:15 AM for Louisville, KY. My parents followed us on the trip which turned out to save the day. . . Everything was going smoothly and we were about 60 miles outside of Louisville when I took the Quest out of cruise control and hit the gas. . NOTHING. . .so I pushed again. . NOTHING. . again. . it went this time. Ok, I had no idea what that was about, but I needed at least 58 more miles out of the Quest. Well with about 15 miles to go it died. . and I mean pull over to the side of the road, light the road flares, put out the cones, we were done. My parents pulled up behind us and we called a tow truck. . Amy, Mom, Kloden and Aunt went in parent's car to Hotel so they wouldn't have to wait on the side of the road. I waited with my dad in the Quest with my bike and all the gear. In about 20 minutes the tow truck was there and we were on our way to Louisville. He towed us to the Nissan dealership, where I rented a minivan for a day and then we switched all the gear over to the rental and went to the hotel. AH. . exhausting and stressful, but we were at least in Louisville.

Friday 8-28-09: Got a call from the Nissan dealer saying that it needs a new battery and they would go from there. Ended up it needed a new alternator too, but they said they didn't have that in stock(yup, I am at a NISSAN DEALERSHIP and they DO NOT have an alternator for a 2007 vehicle, way to go Nissan Dealer!) and it would be Monday maybe Tuesday before they could get that in. Well, I wanted to leave Monday and staying an extra night would add to the overall cost with the extra hotel room so my Dad and I got on the phone and found a AAA Repair Shop. I called Bill Etscorn and Sons Auto Repair http://etscorns.com/warranty.htm#collision_center shop and they said they had one in stock and to get it to them right away. Dad and I dropped off the Quest and waited for the call. At about 4:45 or I called and told them I was headed over and they said they were almost done. Well, longer story short, the alternator they put in was bad so they had to redo it. BUT. . . they were closed on Saturdays. Robert (the service manager) told us to hang on a second and he came back 5 minutes later and said, he and his mechanic would come in on Saturday and get the new one put in. I was very thankful and floored. . here we are, Kansas Citians in Louisville and they could have just said too bad, soo sad, but instead decided to help us out and come in on their day off.

Saturday 8-29-09: Got a call around 1:30 PM that the Quest was ready to go. Troy and Melissa Smith drove us over and we got our van back. BACK IN BUISNESS!!!!

Sunday 8-30-09: RACE DAY (to be continued in the next post). . . .

Some pics of our trip to Louisville and the sights around Louisville. . .

The St. Louis Arch, but I guess you already knew that. .. .