<VV> Fried

[Brian]

I drove to the Performance Workshop  with my wife in her 2009 Town and Country van.  A great problem free vehicle.  Friday evening we used it to go to the dinner with the usual suspects.  We drove back to the hotel and parked in the lot as the weather got worse and the sky darkened.  We went inside and my wife went to the room.  I went to the beer drinking, story telling, picture watching hospitality room.  

The next morning so as to not disturb her, I got a ride to the Workshop meeting with Rick Norris. About 10 Am, Tom Miller told me he had gotten a call on his cell that my wife called saying the van would not start. Ken Klingaman drove me to the hotel in time to talk to the AAA guy.  He had tried a battery booster and then a new battery but he thought the security system had locked and refused to reset when the key fob was inserted.  The solution was to flat bed the van to the local dealer.  Roberta waited with the van and I went back to the meeting.
At about 2:30 PM, I spoke to her and she told me that the dealer had run tests and our entire electronic system was fried!  They asked if the van had been hit by lightning.  They couldn't figure out any other cause.  The needed parts were on what they called 'national back order' and they estimated at least a week until the parts arrived.
James Rice drove Roberta and me to the airport where we rented a car for the trip home.  now that we had wheels again, we decided to go to the party at Michael Leveque's place.  While there people told us that they had been outside the hotel the night before and that they had seen and felt lightning that they thought had hit very, very close to the corner of the hotel building.  Our van was only a few feet away.  So, it looks like lighting was the culprit.
To help us convince the insurance company,  I would very much appreciate anyone who was in the hotel parking lot at about 9:30 Friday evening, sending me a e-mail telling that they saw the lightning strike.  It would help if you put your name and address on the e-mail.
Thanks to all for a great Performance Workshop. Hope to see you at the Convention.
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