Two months ago we bought a 1992 Mini Rover from a guy who was PCS’ing out of here. It’s the smallest car I’ve ever been in. It’s an extremely rough ride. If you hit the smallest of bumps you bounce like there’s no tomorrow. But, seeing as how this is Japan, it’s excellent for parking. So, she’s been burning oil for the past week or so and I had planned to take it to the shop on Friday morning. I had gotten the directions and all the old service records in order and Thursday night as I was driving home…she died. Not that much fun. I was sitting in traffic for awhile when she started to overheat. She started smoking like crazy and then all was quiet. So…stranded, a guy from the base was passing by and stopped to help me. Thank God for him. I didn’t even get his name. He helped push me out of the middle of the street and called Base Security. They sent a tow truck and $250 later the car was parked at the Auto Port. Of course by now it’s 7:30pm and I’ve got to take the train home. I called the Auto Port on Friday and they basically said that they couldn’t help me so on Saturday I walked to the base and talked to the guys in the Auto Hobby Shop. They basically said that there are three things wrong with the car and all fairly easy fixes. So…now I wait for parts. And today is a Japanese holiday so I probably won’t have the car back until Wednesday or Thursday. But…at least we can save it. That’s more than I can say for the three cars we junked in Spain. Now THAT was a bad experience!