All a freakin pain in the ass!  An evil necessity in this life I swear.
About a month back, I mentioned to my dad that my van had this weird jerk it would do when taking it out for it's first run of the day. I'd start it, let it warm up for about 5 minutes, then I'd go to work, or to class, and as I started down the road, it would jerk, and I mean hard too, where if it weren't for the seat belt, I'd probably slide forward. Dad asked if I had checked the transmission fluid, yes, I had, it was fine at the time. Oil was fine as I had just put a quart in a couple of days ago. Dad said to just keep an eye on it.
Couple of weeks ago, it started "slipping". I would pull out of the driveway, start down the road, and it would slip out of gear for a few seconds. Again, checked all fluids, everything fine. Last night, went to class, transmission was slipping bad, almost turned around to go home, but, went to class anyway. Got out of class, started the van, gave it a few minutes to warm up, and it didn't want to go. So, gave it a few more minutes, tried again, at first it wouldn't go, then it clicked into gear, so I started to drive off, and OMG, the slipping was awful...I got about a mile from the college, and that was it...it stopped, wasn't going anywhere. Transmission is gone. Good thing for cell phones.  I called Dad, told him that transmission was shot, that the van wasn't going anywhere, to come get me. Let me tell ya, the heater in that van is AWESOME! Last nights temps when all of this happened was at 9 degrees with a below zero windchill, and I was comfy, if not a bit disgusted, waiting for Dad. 
About a half hour later, Dad shows up, he's driving my sister's van. He has been having problems with his Suburban. He's got his tools with him, plus transmission fluid. He tinkers with it for a few, mind you, Dad is in his 60's and it is COLD out there. Gets in the van, puts it in gear...............nothing. That van is done. So, here comes my first ever adventure in "pushing" a disabled vehicle. We had the 4-way flashers going on both vans, I lined up my sister's van to mine, Dad is in my van, and, slowly and carefully "creep" up to the bumper of my van, and started the 5 mile trek of pushing it home. The overpass part was quite interesting, had to get up some speed to get over it, and on the coast down, I noticed my van going on it's own steam...sort of. Wouldn't go above 30mph Dad said. It did fine as long as it was moving. But, those dreaded red lights...pain in the ass at the worse possible times. Yep, last one before turning onto the road to my house..go figure, it turned red.  Back to "pushing" my van to get it moving.
Got home, discussed options, and yes, the transmission is blown on it. And, it's a 98 with 320,000+ miles on it, and I need a vehicle for work and school and can't wait around for a mechanic to work on it. So...my sister let me borrow her van for work today, I stopped by my parents house after work to see what ideas Dad came up with. I like it. It's a 1995 Grand Prix,  nice little car. 116,000 miles on it, but it's "clean". Amazingly little rust on it for being a Michigan car. Can't wait till Monday to get everything transferred from the van (insurance and plates) and get that little Grand Prix on the road. Dad found it not even a mile up the road from his place, took it for a test drive, looked it over, and made an offer on it.  And yes, I'll be paying him back for getting the car.
I know it's a used car, and there are always going to be "bugs" to work out. I'm just hoping this car will last a few years as it is a nice looking car.
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