Is generally not two days before filming a movie.

But it could have been far worse.  The car could have turned wheels-up during the film shoot.

It was making a sort of loud thumping and grinding noise on the highway the past couple of weeks.  I decided maybe it was a tire going bad.  Took it to the mechanic yesterday afternoon.

It needed a double hip replacement.

When they resuscitated me last night after looking at the bill I drove the old Echo around town a bit.  It felt somewhat odd to the handle,  and I heard a sort of moaning coming from the front end.  Not the pleasure kind of moaning.  More like what accompanies rattling chains in a bad production of The Christmas Carol.

Safety be damned, I drove it to Austin this morning, because, well, I have a movie to make.

Brought it back to the mechanic this afternoon when it started banging fiercely at about 60mph.

Turns out we got a faulty bearing replacement.  Must get another part.  Will be delivered in the morning for surgery.  Should be in post-op by 11am.

And there tonight in the mechanic’s parking lot sits the lowly Echo.  Star of multiple Silly Bunny Pictures movies.  Facing the highway it so lovingly has traversed three hundred something thousand miles worth.

Two blocks away I sit in the historic 1898 town library, enjoying the air conditioning set on freeze, stare at the stained glass windows and give thanks to all that technology brings to my life.

Including the ability to make movies and tell my own story.

Tomorrow the cast and crew starts arriving. We roll camera on movie #5 in 37 hours.

I’m very content.

P.S.  Did I mention we still need donations to pay for like, you know, food.  Hey, here’s the link to help us out.