It's not what Dad and I had previously thought. Which is nice and not-so-nice. The nice part, at least it's not a teeny tiny thing that fell off and we have to figure out what part is missing. The not-so-nice part: it's nothing I can repair myself.

I don't have the tools for the repair, nor does Dad, therefore I (as in, me, myself, and I... and probably with Dad's help) can't fix. Boo-hoo. Boo-hoo.

It's the drive shaft. There is a rubber boot on the driver's side front tire that is broken. That means that while it was torn/ripped/etc air and garbage from the road got in there and where grinding away at the bearings. Thus, the loud grinding noise (I just didn't figure the bearings were GONE - DESTROYED - NON-EXISTANT - ETC - ETC - ETC) when I turned.

So, Dad is checking with Jason (Erich's friend) to see if he can give us a ball-park figure on the repair costs. I think if it costs more than $100, I'm going to have to say no. That's it, Baby. You had your days of glory.... now you can be in your pasture that you have been eyeing for so long.

If, by some freak of nature, hope upon hope, the cost to fix Baby up is a hair under one hundred, I'll highly consider getting her fixed up. But, more than likely, the surgery will be costly, such is all surgery, and I won't be able to even consider it a possibility. Boo-hoo. Boo-hoo.

I know I've mourned already about Baby, but it still feels like I'm losing a good friend. *biting my lower lip* She's my first. You never forget your first. *looking upward to avoid tears* So, even if I can't help her this time, I think she had a good life and she'd want to be remembered as a great car. *bleak smile*

I'll let you know more when I know more.

Carisa