But that didn’t work out, as you may have read yesterday. In case anyone was curious, the problem was a blown alternator, which seized up and made the alternator belt very unhappy.
Fortunately alternators are significantly cheaper than transmissions, so I won’t be looking at a several grand bill as I was last time (knock on wood). Made a quick call to Triple A (thanks guys) and they towed me 80 miles back to my local dealership.
All in all, could have been a lot worse, especially since I lost power steering in the middle of the highway.