Car Keys, Cattle, and Carnage Part IV, in which we curse used car lots.

Car Keys, Cattle, and Carnage, Part I

Car Keys, Cattle, and Carnage, Part II

Car Keys, Cattle, and Carnage, Part III

At the dealership we paid our $20. to have a duplicate key made, and shifted our attention on the way home to the issue of getting the truck repaired. Of course we knew that we needed to repair it out of our own pockets since it was not damaged in an accident related to company business. Jessie felt pretty confident that he could get most of the parts used and repair it himself, cause he's studly like that. We knew that the parts would still add up to quite a handy sum though.

After we got home and put the girls down for their naps, Jessie meandered out to the van with the intent of taking it to the filling station, since it had been very low on gas before it had been rendered useless for the weekend.

I knew it was an ominous sign when Jessie returned to the house wearing a defeated look on his face less than 2 minutes after walking out. "Hey babe, you know how our ignition key has never worked in the passenger door?" I waited. But apparently he wanted a response, or for me to make my own inferences. "Um, yeah?" I could vaguely see where this was headed. "I think the ignition on our van was switched out before we bought it." "Meaning..." "This key doesn't work in the ignition." "But", he added helpfully, "It does work in the passenger door."

There really should be a limit to cruel ironies, I decided.

I mentally included "new ignition assembly" on the list of car parts I would be requesting over the phone from various salvage yards on Monday.

We spent most of the week at a condo in Naples with my sister's family, because they were vacationing there, and Jessie has business that takes him down several times a week anyways. While there, I busied myself with making calls to various scrap yards and car parts stores. I discovered through the course of days that 1) the parts for the truck could take up to 6 weeks to obtain . 2) a new ignition assembly would do us no good since the old one cannot be removed without using the original key. 3) our only option was to have a locksmith come out and cut us a new key for the current ignition. 4) People who own scrap yards invariably talk like Larry the Cable Guy.

To Be Continued.