I won’t be doing a regular post this morning, as I’m dealing with our Prius adventure.

It started on Friday, when I was making an almost-final run from Kaaawa to remove some of the last things from our house there.

I stopped at the 7-11 for a drink and a managua before beginning the drive home, and when I got back in the car, it was dead. Or at least it seemed dead. No lights. No start. There were a few odd flashes of warnings, but nothing to explain what was going on.

But just minutes after calling for roadside assistance, the regular lights on the dashboard came back on, the car started, and I drove back to Honolulu.

But it repeated this routine on Saturday, and when it finally did start, we decided it was time to just drive to the dealer while the car was up and running, not having any idea what we were dealing with.

Well, a bit of online searching on route discovered that the Prius has a small battery to power its various computer parts when the engine isn’t running. I had never heard of this. And there are loads of complaints over the cost of replacing this little battery, which exceeds that of a standard car battery.

But cost isn’t the problem we face.

Our Toyota dealer has no appointments available to schedule the battery replacement, and apparently no system for prioritizing jobs that would handle emergencies like this. Well, it’s an emergency for a one-car family that can’t drive their car because it could refuse to start at any old awkward place.

For the time being, our car is waiting for service on a stand-by basis. If they have time, they’ll get to it. If not, we suck.

Meanwhile, we’re coping with bus passes and, as necessary, a rental car. Far from ideal.

Time to look for another dealer and service center, me thinks, although I think all are still owned by Servco.