State of the car

So the Mercedes survived the trip from Vermont back to North Carolina to end the book tour. The heat definitely works, the air conditioning does not. Even with giant jugs of grease in the back, it gets absolutely no traction in the snow (which I discovered all to well while fishtailing on I-89 in whiteout conditions on Tuesday night). Both headlights are now working, though one is still pointing to the sky. A mysterious rusty piece of the car fell off somewhere in a Massachusetts parking lot, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference in mileage or performance.