I hit a rock.

Last night I came home from college to watch my younger brother's rock band play in a "Battle of the Bands" contest. His band was great. It was a high-school thing, and none of the other bands were nearly as musically proficient or technically tight as his group was.

After the show, I went home to my actual house (as opposed to my apartment on campus) which lies at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere in southwestern New Hampshire. Although most of the snow downtown had melted, I wasn't surprised to see a fair amount of the white stuff on the sides of the road, and even a little strip of it going down the middle.

When the road turned to dirt, I noticed a giant hunk of what appeared to be snow lying smack dab in the middle of the road. "Well," I figured, "I'll just go over it. It looks like snow, and even if it isn't, I'll probably clea-BANG!!!!!!!!!"

damnit.

I stopped the car, let it idle for a couple seconds, revved the engine a few times to listen for any change in exhaust note. *whew* ..nothing seemed to be wrong..

I got out, found the rock, and tossed it off to the side. I can't understand what a rock that large was doing dead center in the road. I can only think that the frost pushed it up recently. I got back in my car and was greeted by what sounded like a cross between a Stebro and a water buffalo. Something was wrong with the exhaust. I gunned the throttle a couple times and sure enough, there was a serious leak somewhere in the exhaust.

We got home and I had my girlfriend tickle the accelerator while I peered around under the car with a flashlight as best I could on a muddy driveway at 11:30 at night. I isolated the leak to somewhere in the front-left quarter of the vehicle. We'll see. At the most, it'll cost me about $320 for a new front pipe, and at the least it'll be a couple of bucks for a gasket or some tape.

I'm headed to my girlfriend's father's house sometime today to take a look underneath. Thank god it's supposed to be a nice weekend. I know this problem is absolutely trivial compared to what COULD have happened, but I'm pissed off at myself nonetheless. Wish me luck.

-Adam