Yesterday as I was minding my own business, driving to lunch, the truck started to make an odd squee sort of sound. It sounded like air getting by somewhere, so I figured it would make it home and I’d check it then.

But the noise suddenly transmogrified to an alarming whapwhapflapwhack noise under the hood. I pulled over into the Walgreen’s parking lot and popped the hood. It was fairly obviously the belt coming apart, and I congratulated myself both on finding the problem and for it being a fairly simple one.

I checked with Marv, and he said that since it wasn’t in pieces yet, I could probably make it over to the parts house and pick up a new one, and he’d help me put it on. Four parts houses later, I finally found one in-stock, and forked over the money with relief.

But once Marv and his son got the old one off, they discovered that there wasn’t a belt diagram anywhere. Not in the owner’s manual and not pasted somewhere under the hood where it should be. And it’s not obvious how they go back on.

OK, back to work, after Connie nicely fixed us each a sandwich, and to call around to the dealers to get a diagram faxed over. The first three didn’t even have the right number of pulleys on the picture, but we finally got the right one and went back on over to Marv’s to pop the belt on.

Or so one would think. But when they had it almost good and were tightening the tensioner,  a tiny little pot-metal alignment pin snapped right off. So there goes the whole tensioner assembly. And does anyone in town stock this? No, of course not, not even the dealer. I got an order in at a truck supply place, but we’re crossing our fingers that it was in time to see it on the delivery truck this afternoon. Otherwise, it’ll be Friday at the earliest. It shouldn’t be this complicated.

So I’m without a vehicle yet again. Marv picked me up for work this morning, and he’s going to kindly lend me his truck to get the kids up to my mom’s for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but it’s still on the inconvenient side. I don’t know when I’m going to be able to get to the store to pick up the stuff for that pumpkin cheesecake (maybe at lunch?) and I feel really awkward borrowing someone else’s truck for a whole day. Getting my second job done is going to be just a little tricky too. I wish Jeff had taken me up on my offer to store his truck at my house instead of the air base; at least then I’d have a backup.

But at least I have friends willing to help me. Had I taken it to a mechanic, it would have cost three or four times as much and I still wouldn’t have it yet. I may give him (the truck, not Marv) the evil eye this afternoon and threaten to trade him in on a Ford.

I swear, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy. I keep his oil changed more regularly than the manual says to, I take him out for all sorts of fun, and I just gave him new windshield wipers on Monday. I beef up his parts every chance I get and if his bed’s a little greasy, well, I’ll wash it when hunting season is over. Besides, bear grease is very moisturizing. It’s like he’s hitting the teenager phase of truckdom and he’s feeling very cranky.