We pulled into O'Reilly's, and turned it into a concrete version of Dale's back yard. With Dale in charge of triage, we began so sort through our problems. Boone diagnosed the problem with the Belvedere as a misadjusted shifter, explaining to Dale that the mega shifter is designed to ratchet four times, so he went to work on that, once we had it in the air. We couldn't locate a replacement alternator in OKC, but after Dale looked over the problem, he decided it might not be bad.
"You lost the nut that held the cable tight to the alternator, so every time it wasn't making good contact, the energy produced by the alternator has to jump across, and that creates tremendous heat. We might get lucky, splice all the wires, and give it a shot."

Rachael, was already on a recon mission to replenish our refreshments, and provide sustenance. Nothing in this world like a woman who understands priorities! She raided the grocery store in the adjoining parking lot, and filled our coolers with soda, water, and plenty of ice. Then, she found a Pizza Hut, and came back with three boxes that she laid out in the trunk of the Belvedere. The fact that this young lady is still single gives me serious concern for this young generation of gearheads!

The food and drink went a long way towards lightening the mood, and helping us regroup. We decided to use this spot to our advantage, and changed the oil on the Belvedere, Gremlin, and Barnyard, as well as the transmission fluid on the Gremlin. Of course, the best moment was when I fired the Valiant, and the voltmeter jumped to 13.5! As darkness closed in we all began to summon our fire jackets, and it became obvious that the warm weather we had enjoyed the first three days was about to take a turn to the colder side.