What a bust

Sept 13 - 14, 2013  Friday-Saturday

I had an appointment at 8:30 AM to take my car to an authorized Suzuki repair facility.  We made it there with time to spare.  I explained the entire history of the squealing noise to the service writer.  She supposedly put it all in the computer.  While we were waiting we decided to go down the road for breakfast.  Waited about 45 minutes for their shuttle to show up.  We decided to walk the half mile back.  The weather was cool and cloudy.  Yesterday it was warm (in the 80's) when we got here.  Today - no sun at all. 

Breakfast was OK but not great.  We ate at a place called The Homestead restaurant.  It reminded us of The Farmhouse in Beaumont.  Bill asked for coffee and I asked for tea.  The coffee came in a large thermos container but only held one small cup of coffee!  My hot water was in a pretty good size pot but was only 1/4 full!  Again, just enough for a cup.  We both had to ask for refills.  Would we go back?  I don't know, maybe. 

When we got back to the shop I asked about the car.  They tried to tell me that there was an oil leak and it needed about $1500 worth of work.  Since I know it hasn't used any oil I wonder how it could have a leak.  We didn't have any of the suggested work done.  I will take it to a shop we know when we get back to OC.  I asked if it was because of an oil leak why did it only make the noise when I turned on the air conditioner or if the air was on when I started the car?  When I read the instructions to the mechanic I noticed they didn't mention the air conditioner at all!  I paid for the oil change I authorized and we left.  At least they washed the car! 

After we got the car back we drove over to Camping World to pick up a couple of things.  We will probably be back one more time to pick up some things Bill had to measure for. 

That evening we headed over to the commissary to pick up some fresh veggies and a few other things.  It was certainly crowded and we finally realized that it was payday!  We usually try to avoid it on paydays because of the crowds.  Oh well. 

Saturday we didn't do much in the morning except a couple of loads of laundry at the Laundromat.  We did take a drive over to the other side of the lake to check out the dock and boat rentals.  There is also a restaurant over there but it was closed for some reason.  It looked like it has been closed for awhile.  We also drove around other parts of the bases.  It is kinda confusing around here.  There are actually 3 bases in one, and one of those is split in two.  We are staying on Ft Lewis North (an Army base).  There is Ft Lewis Main across the freeway.  Next on our side is Camp Murray, a reserve base.  You can go from Ft Lewis North to Camp Murray without having to show an ID card but if you go from Ft Lewis North to Ft Lewis Main (where the PX and commissary are) you have to show an ID card.  There is also McChord AFB.  You have to show an ID card to get on it.  So when we took a drive around we were constantly pulling our cards out.  Some of the gates wanted to see both our cards and some didn't. 

I made while chicken enchiladas for dinner and apple dumplings for dessert.  I had purchased a roasted chicken at the commissary and Bill was eating the meat so I made the enchiladas before the meat was gone.  We will be picking up another one before we leave here.  They make good sandwiches. 

So I did take some pictures while we were out.  Here they all are -