OK, back in business. We were in Jackson, MS, when we broke down, Leif. Made it to Destin yesterday afternoon, after encountering several very kind folks. I'll post the entire story below for those interested in slogging through it.
[sblock=Mowgli's Mississippi Misadventures]We stopped at about 11:30 in Jackson, MS to top off the tanks and grab a snack on our way from J'town to Destin, FL. As we were about to pull out we were flagged down by a slightly older lady who asked us if we had cables and would be willing to give her a jump start, to which we happily agreed. Gotta grab that good road karma where you can, right?
In the course of getting her car started again, we noticed steam pouring from under the hood of our own vehicle. I'm sure I looked a bit like Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon as I opened the hood and looked beneath - not only am I no mechanic, the innards of our Lincoln are all covered with smooth plastic so you can't really see anything anyway. We decided that discretion is the better part of valor and drove it a block over to the Holiday Inn Express, where we were rented a suite for a regular room rate by the very kind lady at the counter.
Next day, we found a garage not too far away and determined that they were open and could take care of us. Called a tow company, and was very impressed with Daniel (the tow truck operator). I left Darling and the kids at the hotel and Daniel got me and the truck to the garage . . . which turned out to be a Chevy dealership. The fella we'd talked to apologized profusely and said he'd misunderstood, and that he could not work on a Lincoln (no parts, and his mechanics weren't trained on them). He suggested a Lincoln dealership about 10 miles up the road.
Here's where the bits about the kind folks in Jackson start in earnest.
As soon as we got on the road Daniel told me he knew a garage about half as far away that was way more likely to be able to get us in and taken care of that day, and the reduced distance would save me some on the towing fee. Awesome - thanks Daniel (and Hall's Towing Service)!
The Car Care Clinic was indeed able to get us in. Frank, the shop manager, found us an after-market radiator within minutes and was able to keep our cost on the lower side of the estimated cost for that area (I Googled it to make sure he was on the up and up when he told me he could save us about $300, and sure enough the $650 he quoted me was very much on the low side for this repair in that area). He estimated it would be 2:30 or 3:00 before he could get it finished, but when I mentioned that Darling and the kids were at the hotel but would likely have to check out at 11:00 he told me he'd bump us up in line and put a man solely on our repair to try to get us on the road again as soon as he could . . . but it would still probably be at least 2:00. He actually offered me the keys to his car should I need to go pick them up and bring them to the garage.
The very kind folks at the Holiday Inn Express extended our stay, but said they could go absolutely no later than 2:00. One of the housekeepers heard that we'd not brought enough baby food for Will to get us through our extended stay, and volunteered to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart and pick some up for us.
Frank ended up getting us all fixed up and back on the road at around 12:30, so loaning me his car turned out to be unnecessary. We made it to sunny Florida only a day later than planned, and still with plenty of cash for an excellent vacation!
So, a sincere thank you to the staff of the Holiday Inn Express, Daniel and Hall's Towing, and Frank and the Car Care Clinic - all in South Jackson, MS - for their kindness and the excellent care they showed to my family![/sblock]
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