kevin_standlee | Ready to Roll

The local Aamco is closed today for the holiday, but another nearby auto repair place, Fremont & Purdon, about 3 km from the hotel, was open and said, "Sure, bring it right in" when I called them at 8:15 this morning. When we got there and explained the problem, Steve-the-shop-guy said this looked pretty routine and that he'd get right on it.

Lisa and I walked back to the hotel down Lake Street and Colorado Blvd. Along the way, we saw a sign that said Famima Now Open!. This was terribly disappointing, because had we known there was a Famima withing walking distance, we probably would have been in it several times over the weekend. However, looking around the area where the sign was, we couldn't find it. Finally, I looked inside a vacant store-front with a For Lease sign on it, and said to Lisa, "This was it." Based on the color scheme, and also the obvious locations Lisa pointed out where there had been refrigerator cases, this almost certainly was an ex-Famima location. That's too bad, but it's probably better that we didn't learn about it until our trip was almost done.

We went back to the hotel and headed to the buffet for breakfast, where later,

sfrose joined us. We had a long, slow, leisurely breakfast. So slow, in fact, that as I was lingering over my last cup of coffee, the shop called to tell us the van was ready for pickup. We polished off our meal and headed back up Los Robles Avenue. We needed the walk after the big breakfast anyway. (I've already logged 6,000 steps today, and my blood sugar was a dead-perfect 100 when I tested it an hour after eating.)

Including my AAA member discount, the total cost of the repairs — automatic transmission service including fluid and new gasket, including inspection to make sure there was no sign of damage to the transmission — was a mere $130. That sounded pretty reasonable to me, and compared to what could have happened, it was wonderfully inexpensive.

We returned to the hotel and am now packing (again) and deciding where we are going to stop tonight. We expect to leave within the hour, and that means getting out of LA before the afternoon rush (knock wood).