Reading harold_maude's journal

Another saturday almost gone and I'm hoping that I will sleep good tonight. I spent the day between trying to get some concrete figure that I can work tord so that I can get a new muffler, and talking to a some people I can trust, trying to sort everything out so that a road through it all can be found.

I know that change comes, but there are times I wish it didn't resemble a huge dump truck full of stuff that ends up on my head so much.

It keeps comming and I keep standing, sometimes not so up right, but still standing in the morning as it were.

I keep thinking that when I get a bit down the road, it might be a good idea to write about the experiences that have run over me, it might help someone out there who is in worse shape with the same kinds of things simply because they don't know how to help themselves, they are stumped and need some help figuring things out.

One person thought I was asking for financial help. I stopped them before they offered something. I told them I was not asking for financial help, just strength and wisdom so I can navigate this sea without too many dings along the way.
It really has helped with all of this.

I have to do the leg work so to speak, but when your burned out, and it's showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, just a little emotional support is sometimes the best medicine for helping survive the trip.

I still haven't figured out where to take the truck to get the muffler. I read many horror stories about midas taking people for lots of money.
So I'm not sure I really want to go through them.
They were open today and when I called I started asking some basic questions which the guy on the other end of the phone said he couldn't give me an answer to.

Questions like what will it cost me for you to just look at it and tell me what I need.
Basicly what will it cost me just to have you look at it.
And he couldn't give me any kind of number...there are red flags going up at this point, so I started asking different people where they went, and I got a variety of answers.

If I were a man I could get answers I'm sure of that. But being a woman in this town I really have to watch things close,
repair shops like to take women for what they can.
And that's because most women don't know alot about cars.
I know a little, but almost next to nothing other than what I read about today, on mufflers.

So I spent time reading about mufflers. Then I got my owner's manual out of the glove box and started looking for anything on the exaust system and read through it and there was nothing on the muffler. No joke here. I thought to myself, the one thing that I need to get help with so that I get the right thing and the people who made this truck have nothing to say about what kind I should get.

I looked at all kinds of pictures of mufflers today. Everything from a barrel design with two pipes to these long tapered custom pipes which from what I could tell either went on a big bike or some kind of custom exaust on a souped up truck or street car.

So I still have no clue.
Funny thing about looking all this stuff up, you would think there would be a price list somewhere.
But I have yet to find one. If I do I'll put the web address up here so maybe it will help someone.

Anyway, just an up date on what a day this has been...
I'm tired now.