Tyler Trip

We took a short trip to Tyler on Friday...it got off to a rough start. Chris took the car in for an oil change on Thursday in preparation for our trip. They changed the oil, rotated the tires, and cleaned the battery. Well Chris gets the car all packed up and ready to go and tries to start it and nothing, nada, zip, zero. It won't do anything! I call the dealership who serviced the car...pretty ticked, I must mention and explain the problem. When Chris opens the hood to look at the battery and it looks as though they just took an air hose and spread the battery corrosion all throughout the engine rather than actually CLEANING it off. So I proceed to gripe to the man who actually serviced the car and he tells me that he told my husband the battery terminal was cracked and that is probably the problem. I tell him, that he ALSO told my husband that whoever serviced the battery last time tightened the terminal too tight, thus resulting in the broken terminal...I told him that it has only been serviced there and if he would check his records he would see that they supposedly serviced my battery the last time I was there, so if it was cracked due to someone tightening it too much then that was a problem that THEY needed to fix!! He then proceeds to tell me that I need to drive the car in so they can check it. This is where I want to yell IDIOT! into the phone but instead proceed with "and how do you expect me to drive it in there when it won't even start?" He then stutters "uh, I don't know, I am going to have to talk to my supervisor" I say ok, you do that. He claims he will call me back. Chris switches everything over to the truck and then in his fury checks the engine again and realizes that the battery terminal is just sitting on the battery, not even tightened at all!! So he tightens it and sha-bam the car starts! But this isn't great news either, because obviously someone incompetent worked on my vehicle and that just isn't going to fly! When the manager finally calls me 45 minutes later, while we are dropping off my keys to Laci so she can take it in, I tell her the whole nasty story and how I am irritated because this has delayed our trip out of town and that I want my car fixed. She promises to fix it -- at no charge and we proceed on our trip.

Tyler was beautiful. Chris and I had a good time being lazy together. We went to Tyler State Park and stayed at a pretty bed and breakfast that the lady provided us with so much food we were stuffed after our afternoon snack and breakfast the next morning. She was so super sweet! I have a few pictures below of our adventures.

A picture of my belly as I walked through the park





















Chris' one and only fish he caught when we were out on the tiny pontoon boat that we rented on Saturday morning.





















What I did while on the boat...stared off into the pretty scenery and attempted to drive the boat in a straight line...this is a near impossible task, I must say. Especially since I have zero experience in driving a boat of this size and make.





















A rose at the Tyler Rose Garden
















Some of the tigers we saw at Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge, so pretty! I love tigers!

















Our trip was relaxing and fun to just hang out with each other away from home for a couple of days. Chris did say at the end that he didn't really ever need to go to Tyler again, because there was nothing to do! Thanks honey...

And the end of the car story goes like this...they call and tell us that they replaced the terminals, the battery, washed and cleaned the engine and the interior and exterior of the car. Laci picks it up on Saturday turns it on, starts to drive off and the check engine light comes on. She goes back in tells them the issue and they say that they forgot to reset it. Great. Geniuses. Then I go out to drive to work today and what happens?! You guessed it...the check engine light comes on...again! So Chris had to take it in again this morning. All because we wanted a simple oil change and tire rotation and they have somehow screwed up my perfectly descent car! The dealership...you know, the ones CERTIFIED to work on my brand of vehicle. They now claim that something covered under the warranty needs to be fixed and we are driving a rental provided by them, because they could not have it fixed in a day. UGH! Cars...can't live with em, can't live without em!