Car time...
I have been driving my blue durango since 2006 and it has been old reliable. I have almost 230,000 miles on it...It has hit birds, squirrels, dogs, elk and a mountain lion and kept on going. I depend on the car, it gets me to my life outside of the house.
Almost a month ago, it started to overheat. First, I needed to turn off the AC and open the windows. Then I needed to turn the heat in the back on, then I was driving in the summer heat with the heat on high in the car to get anywhere. It was a hot summer anyway but this made it ridiculous.
Jim decided he would work on it, you know, replace the thermostat and that'll do it. Well, on a test drive, it still overheated. Then he decided to change out the radiator, replace the hoses, etc, etc. He had it up with the nose in the sky to let the air bubbles out of the radiator...yeah, yeah...that's it, the air bubbles in the radiator. Guess what...it wasn't the air bubbles. It was the head gasket and it is "blown". So, there, I was right...she (the car) is terminal.
I move on to the subaru. This thing has been dying for a year or two now. The check engine light is just on. It never goes off. When I ask my husband about it, he says, "oh, you can drive it, it's just a misfire" and goes about his business. Not to mention that this thing has 220,000 miles on it as well.
OK, I can drive it. It overheats and the air conditioner blows hot air but hey, it runs. I have been driving it for about two weeks when it decided to die as well. Howie was driving to school yesterday and we couldn't make it up the hill out of the subdivision...it was sputtering and misfiring and not moving. Then I looked over and the check engine light was flashing and the battery light was flashing as well. Howie decided we needed to turn around and get the last running vehicle (besides the tractor) we could drive.
That would be the 1991 F-150 "toothpaste" blue ford truck that Mac drove his senior year of high school. Talk about a piece...It's got 178,000 miles on it, it's been hit on one side, the keys don't work in the locks, it's got a stick shift with a baseball for the knob, and a real live rabbit foot that was acquired on a camping trip hanging from the mirror. It gets about 2 miles to the gallon...
I have been driving the truck for two days and have had enough. As Howie said on the way home from school..."Mom, every car we own has been on it's last legs for about a year. It's time to buy a new car." He is right.
I have been overly sweet to my husband about a new car. Yes, honey, I know we just paid tuition for two at college, that I went on a cruise, that you have a car payment for your (midlife crisis) truck. Yes, I know it's a difficult time to take out another loan. D...all of the above.
Last night, I took Howie to masterdrive and Jim met me to take him home. I gently pointed out how I have not gotten on his back and rode him like a big dog about all the check engine lights and overheating and how I told him the cars were dying...aren't I being such a wonderful wife? He looked at me as serious as he has been in a while and asked, "Who else do you know that gets to drive a pale blue 20 year old truck with a baseball for the shifter and a real rabbits foot on the mirror? You should consider yourself lucky..."
I had to laugh because it was funny but....
Here's what I know, there's a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee with my name on it somewhere in Denver that I will be driving in the next week and the beautiful pale blue truck with the baseball shifter and rabbits foot will go to it's intended driver...
And it ain't me.
We'll tawk tomorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
Almost a month ago, it started to overheat. First, I needed to turn off the AC and open the windows. Then I needed to turn the heat in the back on, then I was driving in the summer heat with the heat on high in the car to get anywhere. It was a hot summer anyway but this made it ridiculous.
Jim decided he would work on it, you know, replace the thermostat and that'll do it. Well, on a test drive, it still overheated. Then he decided to change out the radiator, replace the hoses, etc, etc. He had it up with the nose in the sky to let the air bubbles out of the radiator...yeah, yeah...that's it, the air bubbles in the radiator. Guess what...it wasn't the air bubbles. It was the head gasket and it is "blown". So, there, I was right...she (the car) is terminal.
I move on to the subaru. This thing has been dying for a year or two now. The check engine light is just on. It never goes off. When I ask my husband about it, he says, "oh, you can drive it, it's just a misfire" and goes about his business. Not to mention that this thing has 220,000 miles on it as well.
OK, I can drive it. It overheats and the air conditioner blows hot air but hey, it runs. I have been driving it for about two weeks when it decided to die as well. Howie was driving to school yesterday and we couldn't make it up the hill out of the subdivision...it was sputtering and misfiring and not moving. Then I looked over and the check engine light was flashing and the battery light was flashing as well. Howie decided we needed to turn around and get the last running vehicle (besides the tractor) we could drive.
That would be the 1991 F-150 "toothpaste" blue ford truck that Mac drove his senior year of high school. Talk about a piece...It's got 178,000 miles on it, it's been hit on one side, the keys don't work in the locks, it's got a stick shift with a baseball for the knob, and a real live rabbit foot that was acquired on a camping trip hanging from the mirror. It gets about 2 miles to the gallon...
I have been driving the truck for two days and have had enough. As Howie said on the way home from school..."Mom, every car we own has been on it's last legs for about a year. It's time to buy a new car." He is right.
I have been overly sweet to my husband about a new car. Yes, honey, I know we just paid tuition for two at college, that I went on a cruise, that you have a car payment for your (midlife crisis) truck. Yes, I know it's a difficult time to take out another loan. D...all of the above.
Last night, I took Howie to masterdrive and Jim met me to take him home. I gently pointed out how I have not gotten on his back and rode him like a big dog about all the check engine lights and overheating and how I told him the cars were dying...aren't I being such a wonderful wife? He looked at me as serious as he has been in a while and asked, "Who else do you know that gets to drive a pale blue 20 year old truck with a baseball for the shifter and a real rabbits foot on the mirror? You should consider yourself lucky..."
I had to laugh because it was funny but....
Here's what I know, there's a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee with my name on it somewhere in Denver that I will be driving in the next week and the beautiful pale blue truck with the baseball shifter and rabbits foot will go to it's intended driver...
And it ain't me.
We'll tawk tomorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
Comments
Good luck shopping!