Lackawaxen

The month of August has come and gone. It seems the entire month has been spent 'on the road'. We've just returned to our "condo style apartment home" which we continue to love by the way.

We spent five days at my son's (Jim) vacation home in the Pocono mountains of Lackawaxen, PA. Jim's five kids were there. They range in age from seven to sixteen. They are blessed with my good looks and they are all witty and charming. The three girls also happen to be beautiful! We had a good time between trips to the lake and the top of the mountain. The Lake and Ski area were required trips in order to use cell phones or be able to connect to the internet. The lack of TV and the internet necessitated conversation while we were at the house.

Deer and the occasional bear made the indoors rather appealing to me. We didn't see any bears, but they have wandered through the yard at other times. Jim, Pat and the kids left on Saturday, and we had planned to stay a few more days. However, Mary Ellen's sister, Carol, had another stroke (number 5 according to the MRI). She is doing very well now, but we left the mountains on Monday to spend a little time with her in Stow, Ohio.

Before we departed we managed to find a casino! Surprise, surprise. So on Sunday we headed down the mountain and 90 minutes later ended up in Wilkes-Barre, PA and the Mohegan Sun casino. We spent four hours or so. It was a very nice casino. I highly recommend it. Mary Ellen proceeded to lose $60 or so, while I managed to win $.14. I actually managed to play for three or four hours on twenty dollars and still came out ahead. I believe I'm blessed with a skill for managing slots. Managing slots does NOT mean winning, it means NOT losing. It was fun.

When we returned from the Casino we had dinner at the Summit restaurant at the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful nite and we sat on the patio overlooking the ski lift. The food was outstanding. I had a half rack of baby back ribs. I can't imagine anyone eating a full rack. The entire meal exceeded our expectations.

So on Monday we left around noon and proceeded toward OHIO. We had planned to stay over somewhere on the way to Carol's. We had stayed in Dubois, PA on our way to Lackawaxen and we ended up stopping there again. On our trip east we stayed at the Hampton, so we decided to try one of the other hotels. We pulled into the Best Western. I went in to see about reservations. Mary Ellen remained in the car but decided to turn off the engine while she waited. Before I go further I should mention that every time we venture outside the borders of Elkhart, Indiana, whether we are driving the truck, the PT Cruiser or pulling the trailer with the truck, we have had some type of incident requiring roadside service. So, on returning to the Cruiser after getting a room for the night, Mary Ellen turned the key to start the car. NOTHING. It was dead. No click, no nothing. Dashboard lit, but no headlights. Warning bells worked to alert us to an open door, but no ignition.

Rather than call emergency road service from Good Sam, Mary Ellen suggested we use our Chrysler roadside assistance. She called and with very little discussion with the gentleman on the phone, he told us he was sending a tow truck. Within ten minutes the tow truck was there. One of the nicest men I've ever met came over, introduced himself and suggested he try jumping the battery. He did and it started. However, he said that chances were very good that if we turned the car off, it would never start again. He suggested he would tow it to the Chrysler dealer down the street (3 miles away). Of course it was five o'clock and the mechanics had gone home. They assured us they would get to it first thing in the morning. They called us around nine and told us the battery had a hole in it and wouldn't take a charge and had to be replaced. Why you ask did the battery have a hole in it. It developed a hole due to bouncing around under the hood. Why you ask was it bouncing around. Simple, there was no battery tray holding it in place. The dealer said he had never seen a car without a battery tray. They didn't have any trays, and we didn't want to spend another day waiting for one. So, they held the battery in place using duck tape, bungie cords and glue. I made that up. But they told us they thought it would be OK till we got home. So we paid the $176 and left Dubois by ten a.m.

We arrived at Carol's about one p.m. Our dealer in Elkhart where Mary Ellen bought the 2009 PT Cruiser ended up reimbursing us the $176. They have no idea why the Cruiser came without a battery tray, but we have one now.

After a visit with my two sisters and another dinner out with Carol we left for our "condo style apartment home", which we continue to love.

jim