Well, we made it, but not without a little drama→[More:]

We set out from Fort Worth at about 9 am Friday with a 1995 Escort loaded down with all the stuff my son will need in Albany.

Friday went well, and as evening turned to night we both agreed that we were open to driving straight through instead of getting a hotel for the night. At about 4 am I was thinking that it wasn't such a good idea since we were both pretty burned out from driving all day. I was tired and my eyes were gong buggy and my son was asleep. We took a few turns of an hour at a time, then I decided to stop for gas (mostly just to stop and give my eyes a rest) at about 6:00 AM.

As we were getting back in the car, my son asked, "What's the puddle?" It was gasoline. Holy crap. This was in Fairfield, VA on Saturday morning. I was at a loss, and one of the locals who happened to be there asked me, "What do you need?" I said, "I think I need a mechanic," and explained the situation. He gets on the phone and a couple minutes later he said, "I talked to Wayne; he'll send someone ovver." Wow.

Without going into further details, a mechanic from Wayne's Auto Service found that the rubber hose that attached the fuel filler to the fuel tank was cracked from dry rot, but that the car was more or less safe to drive, but will leave a puddle behind whenever we pump gas.

We drove the rest of the way without incident, and my son now has to see to getting the car fixed since I'm flying back home tomorrow morning. The part costs about $30 but is only available from Ford dealers. My brother-in-law (whom my son is staying with until he gets established) will help him change the part out.

I also found out more about the job my some will be doing: He will be providing in-home car for traumatic brain injury out-patients. This is after they've been brought along through therapy and have been discharged from the hospital. My sis-in-law works for the company and lined up the job. Basicaly, he will go to people's homes and help them do whatever they need done (shopping, light housework, make sure they take their meds, perhaps even going out to the movies with them). The reason they want people like my son is that he is intelligent and articulate (even if he isn't motivated), and some of their patients are quite educated and high functioning. My sis-in-law said the case workers will be fighting over who can get my son to be with their patients. So it does sound like a reasonable match to get him going again.