The cost of staying mobile

I’m hanging out at Panera with a cheese Danish and coffee this morning, having driven Maria to work because the Subaru is in the shop.

I drove the Subaru in to town yesterday morning to get a prescription filled at Sam’s Club. When I parked at Sam’s Club, I noticed steam rising from the hood. I popped the hood and found water/coolant sprinkled about the engine compartment.

After getting my prescription and a 50-pound bag of IAMS dog food, I took the car to a nearby Gateway Tire shop where we have most of our auto service done and left it for diagnosis, hoping it was just a cracked radiator hose. After all, the car is 13 years old with nearly a quarter-million miles on the odometer. The rubber hoses have to be showing their age.

One of the Gateway guys called me later in the day with the bad news – I need a new radiator for $385. Considering that I paid about $500 for a radiator for my 1995 Honda del Sol a few years ago, I figure this is a reasonable figure.

So I will to and fro in the Lexus today until I get word that the Subaru is fixed.