Tranny

98 Dudge (no that's not a typo) intrepid, 40K miles. Today the tranny decides not shift out of 1st and the check engine light came on. Was driving along minding my own business - then bam ....no shifty and now the flippin light is on. Figure it needs hooked up for the old computer check but thought I would give this forum a try first. Any ideas?

Your transmissions has gone into something called "limp mode" where it defaults to second gear. There's a 60% chance it's a speed sensor (more than likely, output) that has gone bad. If it's your output speed sensor, you can usually tell because the speedometer will act funny or not work at all. If all that checks out, you can go to a local Autozone or Advance Auto part and they have the scanner to pull up the trouble code.