The car seems to be holding up pretty well so far. It's been chugging grease the whole time, and responding fine. The stuff that I got in Georgia must have had some animal fat in it, because I've been storing it in buckets in back, and it's starting to smell really ripe. I'm going to pour it into the tank tomorrow afternoon. The air conditioning officially doesn't work, despite the repairs a few weeks ago, so the trip has been a hot one. I don't wear shorts in the car, for fear that my sweaty legs will stick to the pleather seats. At least the weather should be cooler here in the northeast. The other night, driving from Pennsyvlania to Western Mass., the left headlight went out. I tried to go to a Lowe's to get a new one before I got a ticket, but apparently Lowe's doesn't sell auto parts.
So I drove into Northampon, Mass., passing three police cruisers, without getting pulled over. The next morning (Sunday) I hit the only auto parts store open in town. Surprisingly enough, they don't tend to stock headlights for 1985 Mercedes wagons. The guy behind the counter knew of only one other place I could check: Wal-Mart. Please don't tell Dr. Wife, MD that I went there. I had no choice. My safety was at stake. An lo and behold, they stocked the headlight. I had no choice but to buy it. After a good few hours' of effort, I even managed to install it there in the Wal-Mart parking lot. (I really could have used Iggy.) Unfortunately, I didn't know how to aim the bulb properly, so it's shooting straight up, signaling planes at night, instead of pointing toward the road. But at least I have a working headlamp on the left side!
