Summertime, and the living is busy.

With the mild weather and long lazy days summertime in Indiana is a magical time. The season hasnt had me in the mood for updates so much. All those songs that Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter wrote about this place were no exaggeration. This time of the year Indiana really is a little piece of paradise. I love living here.



I've been busy lately. Which leads me to the oft quoted nugget of wisdom, "If it has tits or tires it is going to give you problems".

A little over a month ago I bought a '96 Landrover Discovery. I owned one before. I knew beforehand all about the inherent "quirkiness" of the LR Disco. But the price was right and it is one hell of a stylish ride.



It turned out to be a complete lemon. I spent a lot of evenings and weekends trying to get it up to snuff. The brake lines were corroded beyond belief. After I replaced those I moved on to some minor electrical problems. Then I tackled the overheating problem common to Discos. I thought it was a bad thermostat. But it turned out to be a slipped ferrous cylinder in the aluminum engine block. The motor was trashed. An already pulled replacement motor was going to run me $1000, plus $500 for the switchout. That would have cleaned out a big chunk of my hard earned savings with no guarantee of future reliability. The prospect of breaking down with my kids onboard was a frightening possibility.

Though I hated the prospect of having a payment, my only realistic option was to buy something new. I shopped around a little and found a truck that would haul my kids, my bikes and tow a trailer. Between the rebates and family discount I got a reasonable payment. Though it's a base model work truck trim package standard features are four doors and a full backseat with OnStar and a 6 speaker (loud) stereo with XM Radio, CD player and iPod jack. It has been a decade since I bought a new truck. But I don't regret my purchase one bit.



Sometimes it takes a little bad luck to make things turn out right.