So the plan was for Christmas vacation to end yesterday, with Tino’s triumphant return to Virginia after having won yet another Christmas by getting the most presents. It seems that that isn’t to be, though.

Last night, on I-70 just east of the Indiana-Ohio state line, the car made a THUNK noise. It was the noise you hear when you run over a big clump of ice on the road, and I thought nothing of it, even though there was no ice, snow, etc. anywhere nearby.

A few seconds later, another THUNK, and then a couple more. I looked in the rearview mirror to see what the hell we were running over, and noticed that there was smoke spewing from the car, filling my entire field of view in the mirror.

It turns out that the engine-mounted cooling fan had shed a blade, probably due to some microscopic bubble that had vibrated into a crack. With one blade missing, the fan is seriously out-of-balance and under a lot of strange stress; the rest of the blades were shed in quick order. These blades, when launched from the fan at high velocity, took out the radiator hoses and the belt that runs all the accessories on the front of the engine, including the alternator.

We had the car towed into Dayton, and we’re waiting for it to be fixed now. Trouble is, it’s started snowing now, and this car doesn’t really work well in the snow. We’ll wind up creeping back to Virginia at about 20 miles per hour, probably.

After we return, and after I get all my built-up obligations out of the way, I’ve got another rant on customer service for you.