i got a call from mark today-- lonnie has assigned 9 westy to him!! he gave me some prices on the things i need done and agreed that i'd probably prioritized correctly. nevertheless, he wants to give it a once over, so i'm dropping it off tomorrow morning. he was suitably impressed that i replaced the alternator belt myself. he said, "If you can do that, you can replace the timing belt!"

i think, though, i'll get him to do the timing belt and brake work; as for the coolant hoses, we'll see. i may explore a few other options, as that job is insanely expensive if he does it, but way cheap if i do it myself. it's all a matter of balancing time with money.

i'm super excited!!