NOT a banner day...

So, I get to work today, do my thing for a while, and get ready to go. I was supposed to leave around 12:30 to get Thing 2 and we were going to go shopping and pack for an overnight camping trip this weekend. Nothing high-impact, mind you--just the three Yen boys on some overnight, out-of-doors adventure. Fun, right? Especially since we haven't done it in so very long. First thing to go wrong: I won't be able to get Thing 2 until 2:30, right smack dab in the middle of the time I was going to go shopping and get the camping equipment out and prepped. But, no big deal, right? Adapt, Adjust, Overcome, right?

Well, I come out of the office, get in the truck, insert the key, tap the gas, and attempt to start the vehicle. The engine whirrs and almost catches, but will not turn over. I sigh. I had made an appointment to get it looked at for this afternoon, because it wouldn't turn over the night before. (I stopped at a SBUX on the way to rehearsal, turned it off in the drivethru, and ended up pushing it out. But it started again after sitting for five minutes.) I try again, and now it is just whirring. There is clearly charge coming from the battery, it just won't start. I wait. I try again. Rinse and repeat. No start.

I call Blender, who is an expert mechanic (he has been restoring a '67 Mustang for almost as long as I've known him, and was the one who sold me the truck, so he knows its inner workings). We talk about the problem behavior, and he initially says fuel system, but when we discuss how it works fine when it's cold, we both start talking about the ignition module. It has been weak before--it is a bad engineering design for this particular part and this particular generation of Ford--and we think it is surely the problem. A quick fix--a pain in the ass, since it is on the bottom of the distributor, between the firewall and the engine with a 3" clearance, but still....

I go back and forth between the office and the parking lot, and it still won't go, and now it's getting late. I call the ex's beau, who is dropping Thing 2 off at my place, and he is running late, but I figure I have to get down to my house, so I ask the folks for a ride. Mom takes me home, I get Thing 2, and we head back up for the truck. Thing 1 was at a friend's birthday party at Great America, so we stopped to eat dinner together. We got back to the truck at 7:00, and it started right up. So much for getting ready for camping. The day is shot, and now I have to spend at least the morning trying to get the truck fixed. Boo. We'll see what the folks at my favorite shop say.