Last night, on driving home on I-81, a clicking noise develops and I start to lose power. I get off at the next exit and check under the hood. I notice that there is smoke coming from the oil holder. I put in the one quart of oil I have, no change. The place where I'm at is closed, the phone outside doesn't work, it's cold, it's rainy. The car does not sound good at this point, but it does run. I decide to go with it. I get a half mile down the road before it goes for good.
I find a 24-hour convenience store, and talk to my parents. I then find out there is a motel nearby, so I check in. I go back to the convenience store and ask if they have phone cards, which they do. But I left my wallet in the room, so I have to go back and get it. When I get back to the store, I buy the phone card call my parents, and give them the information. They tell me they're coming in the morning, since there's nothing that can be done that night. So I go back to the car to leave a note, because I left it in front of an auto repair shop and the owner would probably be like "what the F?" when he sees a random car parked in front of his establishment. But all the paper I have is in my backpack, which is in my room. So it's back to the room, and then back to the car again. I finally settle into the room just after midnight, only to remember I left the car unlocked - at 1:40 AM. I thus make yet another trip back to the car to lock it up. I get to bed around 2:30 AM.
My parents arrive at 8:50 AM. After I shower, I learn that the engine is blown, and due to the general oldness of the car, it makes no sense to drop a new engine into the car to put it back onto the road. I then went to the junkyard, the van's final resting place. The people there were very nice - they charged us next to nothing to tow the car, and let us take the tires. (We did leave the gas behind though.)
So now I'm back in Ithaca, without vehicle. Two positives exist though. One is that Chris is gracious enough to let me ride the Pep Band bus to Worcester to cover the NCAA hockey regionals (and also possibly crash in one of the band's rooms). The other that there is a possibility that I may get another car. My mom is looking into buying a pickup truck, which would result in her green minivan being passed to me. Will there be a VanBerry sequel? Stay tuned to find out.