…. she was my ca-ar…
Well, my first winter here in Big Sky Country has been a mild one. The only real differences from NC are:
– colder temps
– it snows more often
– there is always snow on the ground.
Going into winter, I knew I would definitely need two new tires and potentially a new battery. It was time to replace my two back tires before I even moved. My battery was overworked this summer when my alternator went out. Also, I recently found out it’s 6 years old. So, it was time.
Being the sort of forgetful, absentminded person that I can be sometimes, it was on my to-do list but didn’t get done. So, when it started to get really cold, my car stopped wanting to crank up. I had to get it jump started multiple times. (not jumped off – which is what I have always said, but get some pretty good ribbing about that up here 🙂 ) My tires were done as well, with one that kept going flat (and as a result got shredded AND caused me to almost get stuck in the snow a couple of times)
So, yesterday I went to WIlliston with a friend (who is also from NC!) to go grocery shopping. She suggested we check out battery prices at a place called Big Sky Battery. Up until then, my best option was at Napa in Culbertson – $102 with an $18 core charge and $15 installation fee. We went to the battery place & they had a solid winter battery for $79.95 (score!). So then we went to Wal Mart for groceries & I decided to check out the tire prices. Online, the cheapest was about $90 & that was par for the course at Napa too. I was looking at about $220 to get two tires and have them mounted and installed.
She looked it up for me & they had 2 tires on sale for $49 each! WHAT. So, Karen & I left and went back to Bainville. We got the spare on my car, gave my car a jump start, and headed back to Williston. I got the battery & tires for $220, which is what I was looking at JUST for tires before.
The very happy end to this story is that Lola is up & running again and all for less than what I originally calculated.
twobluethumbsup 