Booty Trouble! AKA: Taillights are wonky!

Of course this would happen while I am in the middle of a road trip across the state.

A month or so ago, I got pulled over for my driver side taillight being out. No worries, I found the bulb had blown. Replaced it with the specified bulb and voila. I felt so handy. Which is saying something because I'm, shall we say, "mechanically challenged."

Two weeks after, the same light blew. I replaced it again, voila.

At the end of last week, I noticed it seemed awfully dark in the rear when I was driving in the pitch black (which it really is, when you live near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, lemme tell ya). When I got home, I realized that every single taillight, with the exception of the license plate light, was out.

Since the bulbs had been wonky on the drivers side earlier, I did a quick check of brake lights, hazards, blinkers. All work fine. So I thought hmmm. This may involve something a bit beyond my pay grade (and fear of all things electric). I took it to a shade tree mechanic down the road to check the fuses, who found that all the bulbs are fine, the fuses are also fine. Confirmed that brake, hazard and turn signals all work. He said he wasn't qualified to go farther and didn't charge me a cent (wow...a mechanic honest with a woman...who knew???).

So, how long would you folks think I'm going to be sitting in Toyota of Knoxville tomorrow? Is this a quick fix, or a better-bring-a-book-and-take-out-a-second-mortgage situation?

Considering that I have to drive 9.5 hours tomorrow, I am a little chuffed. And completely baffled. Has anyone experienced this?

 

Ugh, that's what I feared. Nothing like sitting in a dealership all day before starting on a 9 and a half our road trip.

Hopefully that's all that's wrong, and it's safe enough to drive so long as it's light. Might just try to make it home while it is still daylight.

Thanks for the help!