Looong weekend still not over

We went back to STL for the weekend, first got a very pleasent suprise. My MIL house was very clean and waiting to welcome us.We had a pretty good time. Sat we went to service. On Sunday I took the kids to the Science Center with my MIL On Mon morning I was planning on the zoo but it was a bit chilly. Mike says lets go have the transmission checked (it was pulling a bit after the long drive) and eat brkfst then go. So far so good, our extended warrenty just kicked in so we have to make sure we maintian so they dont have an excuse not to pay. The mechanic says it needs a rebuild and a this and that. but he says dont drive home without fixing the thermostat. Well I know a mehanic here who would do it for much less but Mike calls warrenty to see if its covered and mentions the transmission issue. Now we have to fix it. They wont pay if they know we drove another hundred miles after we heard it had a problem. So then, we cant find a stupid rental, the mechanic has a deal with enterprise for $50 bucks for a van but they wont do a one way, we cant afford to rent the whole week so... my MIL ends up driving us home and turning in the van the next day agggh. Now we are waiting to hear from the mechanic, the warrenty co sent an inspector, they want to get out of paying it since our warrenty just kicked in they are trying to prove we did somthing wrong. If they pay its still like a 500 bill. We should be able to pick up the van tomorrow but of course they wont start till they approve the repair soo who knows when we can go get it the whole thing sucks