Dave & Meredith's Travel Blog

My friend Maura posted a comment to the blog this morning saying she assumed we made it to Buffalo, but did we make it back to Boston? It’s uncanny how pertinent that question actually is.

The short story is that we are back in Boston, with my car, and we got to take Buffalo Grandma to lunch yesterday. Here’s proof:

Grandma wearing the muumuu we got her in Hawaii

The longer story is that we had a heck of a time getting back. I don’t know *what* my parents did to my car while they had it, but about two hours into the trip home, the check engine light went on and the whole car started shaking. We had a three-hour diversion in Syracuse to get it towed and fixed (the service guys at Burdick Audi stayed past closing time – they really went above and beyond). We were back on the road with a new ignition coil at about 8:00 pm, but by 11:00 pm, the light went back on and the engine started running really rough again. So, we stopped for an hour at the Lee rest stop on the Mass Pike to give the car a break, and then when we turned it back on, the engine wasn’t shaking. So, we took a chance and drove to the next rest stop. Basically, we stopped at every rest stop on the Mass Pike and rested the car for 10 minutes and we got home okay. At 3:00 am.

I think I’ll borrow Dave’s car some more until I get this little issue fixed. I have an appointment on Monday. Of course, my Massachusetts inspection expired in June while the car was in NY, so I had to take it to get inspected this morning. It passed. Good to know the test has such high standards that a failed ignition coil/misfiring cylinder won’t keep someone off the road.

– Meredith