Thanks for the words of wisdom and encouragement everyone. I appreciate the support! I've been driving The OG around for a couple days ago, and my back isn't the happiest. I've changed not much else in my life in the past week, so I'm assuming it's the seats. There's no springs, and I assume all the straps underneath have turned to dust. I've got a couple car seat cushions on order from Amazon. They'll be here before the trip, and I'm hoping one of those options helps. I don't have time to do anything with the seats the right way. So today, I got my shift boot installed. Put the grommet in the right way (with help from @SpeedRoo): And then promptly folded it correctly down into the abyss where nobody will ever see it. Haha!!! So it's installed the correct way, but nobody except me will ever know. And, of course, all of you: 4 DAYS!!!