Plans change as camping trip costs $3k

August 13th-14th, we decided to take one more family trip before time would become scarce due to school starting for Morgan. We went camping at the Bodega Bay Dunes Campground. We had been looking forward to this trip for some time. The plan was for Morgan to get off work early friday and we'd pack up the car and go! We'd set up camp once we got there and perhaps go to the beach and then have dinner etc. Saturday we'd pack up camp and spend the majority of the day at the beach.

Well, as we arrived in Bodega Bay friday late afternoon, a few miles before we got to our campground, the car's transmission decided to go out. When the car would go from gear to gear it would slip/jerk forward. We put put putted into our campsite and called my brother Chris, (thanks Chris for the tips, advice and help:)) and Morgan's grandpa who was a very experienced mechanic before he retired. It was suggested we check the transmission fluid level. We did and the level was pretty darn low so we were thinking, "Yes!! Just a few dollars for some new transmission fluid and we'll be on our way!"

We decided to deal with getting the fluid in the morning. We had a delicious flame broiled london broil, zucchini, and potatoes dinner over the campfire. It was sooo good. It definitely hit the spot. It was really cold so we went to bed.

Mmmmm. London broil. Jealous, Chris?

Here is our lil' campsite.
Noel all bundled up with her dad.
I know goofy, but hey, it's a memory.
Noel chillin' in her portacrib.
This is a picture from saturday morning. Noel and her dad were playing. It was cute.

Morning came and we went to the store and purchased transmission fluid. Morgan put in as much as was needed and we drove off thinking our worries were all gone. Nope. The car continued to jerk and slip, etc.

To make a long story short, the tow guy came, towed us to Petaluma where thankfully an AAMCO saw us just as they were closing, confirmed it to be the transmission and said it could be this or that or something else, blah blah blah. We left the car there, got a rental car and drove home. At this point, I had a hard time being happy because first of all our vacation was ruined, second of all, we were looking at a large chunk of money for the transmission to be fixed, the cost of the tow, rental car, gas for 150 miles each way, etc, and third of all, it was the 3rd time we've had a problem with the transmission. Okay, I'm done complaning. Here's some pictures. Morgan decided to make it memorable and shot some pictures.

Here's Dan our tow guy.

Our dumb car.

DENIAL. Our dumb car in the background.

Noel fell asleep with the bumpety bump of the truck.
For those interested, ultimately, the internal clutch on our automatic transmission went out causing a few of the solenoids to stop working and our transmission to be rebuilt and the internal clutch to be replaced or fixed. I forget all of the details. All I know it cost A LOT!

5 days later we both went down and picked up our car, dropped off the rental and went to the beach. As we got closer and closer, the more foggy it became and we only stayed about 15 minutes and then went home. We were planning on making a day of the trip, but of course it had to be foggy.




So that was that. Another bump in the road but we're all alive. We're grateful that we all still have each other.