We made it home!

©2015 Lydia Hinshaw

 ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Our homecoming was something special this year.  We could finally stop holding our breath.

 We have traveled for more than three months and more than 10,000 miles with the check engine light glowing threateningly on the Magic Bus' dashboard.

 It first appeared in Tucson, in late June.  A mechanic plugged in his computer and told us we needed to be changing the oil more frequently.  I had my doubts, since we already change it more often than Volkswagen recommends.  He reset the light, and we didn't see it again until about two weeks later, in Yosemite. But then it went off for a while and we stopped worrying.

 Along the California coast, in Bodega Bay, it came on for good.

 We next visited a VW shop in Bremerton, WA, where another mechanic hooked up his computer and told us the timing chain needed to be replaced, a major job that he could not do in his shop.  Plus, it's a job that takes a while, as in days or weeks, and when we are traveling all summer, we do not have a spare car with us.

 The Bremerton mechanic advised us to take it easy and keep on driving.

 And so we did.

 We arrived home on Oct. 13, and on our way into town noticed that the garage I've been using for decades was closed and had a for sale sign on it.  My longtime mechanic had retired a year ago, and the fellow who took it over, and who had done some work for us last winter, couldn't make a go of the business.  Or at least that's the gossip we've since heard.

 We unpacked, and cleaned the bus up as best we could.  The day after we got home, I called a garage owner I've known for years, who remembered me and suggested I drop the van off whenever it was convenient for me.

 I had it up there in 10 minutes or less.

 And there it still is.  The engine had to come out, and once that happens it makes sense to replace the water pump and assorted things that might go bad any day now in a van that is going on 13 years old and just past 170,000 miles.

 We went up to visit it Monday, and found a whole Santa's sleigh full of new parts piled next to it, with more to arrive Tuesday.  We might get it back by Friday.  Or maybe not.

 I can't wait to have it in the garage again. On the other hand, I don't look forward to writing the check.