So from the title you've probably guessed that tonight wasn't a great night.  It started off well enough, church was, well, fun!  Today we had an outdoor service and you could bring your pet, we don't have one, but wanted to experience it..glad we did!  We then took a ride up to the house to see how it was progressing and saw that the upstairs AC is in and the gas lines for the fireplace, two AC's and hot water heater are in as well as all the duct work for the HVAC.  Walmart was our next stop, where we picked up the weeks groceries and topped of the car's gasoline.  We dropped the groceries off at home and headed out for what would be one of our last stops for the night (literally ), Home Depot where I picked up a metric wrench set to change the belt on Joni's car.  On our way home we took the Durango to the car-wash and gave it a little TLC.  With a nice clean car I stopped at a gas station to fill that one up too, as I got back in the car to leave the gas station, I turned the key and heard that dreaded clicking sound that can only be made by a battery that has expelled the last of it's vital juice.  We tried to jump the car figuring that it was probably because we had started and stopped it so many times and it just ran down...when that didn't work I knew exactly what the problem was...the alternator!

Normally an alternator swap would be no big deal, I've done a few with success so I wasn't intimidated by this one in the least (Joni was worried but strong!) but you have to know that on a night like this...anything that could possibly have gone wrong would have...and did!  Before we could even start turning bolts we needed a new alternator, and wouldn't you know there was an Advanced Auto Parts store right across the street.  We took a walk over there to see what we could score.  I gave him all the vital information to locate the correct part, but were told that he was out of stock, but the store on Capitol Blvd (the other side of town) had one.  So we called a cab and were on our way.  So we got home, checked a few other stores for the part and saw that the ones that were cheaper were only so by a few dollars, but were either closed or out of stock so we headed north.  We get there and figured we'd have him look the part up again just to make sure that we were getting the same results..

Clerk: What year?
Me: 2000
Clerk: What make?
Me: Dodge
Clerk: What model?
Me: Durango
Clerk: 4x4?
Me: Yep
Clerk: Engine size?
Me: 5.2 Liter V8

We paid for our shiny new part and he even gave us a complimentary Sierra Mist because of our predicament, How nice!  So south we went and arrive at the gas station were our baby is sitting lifeless in the space we pushed it to.  I got the old alternator out in no time and was ready for the new one.  I instructed my apprentice to bring the new part and as soon as she handed it to me, my heart sank...it was the wrong damn part!  This was becoming a trend, last week we bought the belt for her car from another store and were given the wrong one, but did find out until we got to PA and tried to put it on.  This time however the part numbers matched what we found on our own and what the clerk told us we needed.  In a panic I looked at the motor, fearing the worst, and confirmed my suspicions...turns out we *don't* have a 5.2 Liter motor (as I have thought for nearly two years), we had the 4.7 Liter version.  Which meant we had to drive all the way back up to the other side of town...did I mention that's like 12 miles away? 

This time we took the old part with us, but called ahead to verify that they had it in stock.  Of course not!  Remember, everything that could go wrong, would!  So we called their rival (conveniently located across the street from the one on the other side of town) and found that they had our part so we headed north again.  We got our new part, drove across the street and returned the wrong part, then went south for the last time..whether or not we succeeded.  The new alternator was installed in mere seconds and the belt was re-fitted.  After a short fight with a socket that fell in a hard to reach place, we hooked the jumper cables to the Durango to give it the nourishment it needed to breath life back into the beast.  The operation was a success, our vehicle jumped to life in a way we had not heard in hours! 

So needless to say, I could have thought of at least a hundred better ways to spend my night, but I suppose I had to play the cards I was dealt, at least we won this hand.  To top it all off...I didn't get to eat dinner tonight...I'm going to bed!