Me and My Arrow

"Me and my Arrow, taking the high road, wherever we go, everyone knows, it's me and my Arrow...."

My car reached a milestone on December 15th.  100,000 miles.  It isn't really named 'Arrow' but I should start calling it that.

Back in the spring of 2005, I traded in my Saturn for a bright blue 2004 Hyundai Elantra.  I went to Korum Hyundai of Puyallup armed with my NADA Guides and Kelley Blue Book info, credit score and downpayment, knowing exactly what I wanted.  The salesman asked what kind of a deal I wanted, how much I wanted for my car, etc.  I smiled sweetly and said, 'I know what my Saturn is worth.  My credit score is 700.  I know what the Elantra retails for... so why don't you tell me what you can offer?' He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him I worked for a lawyer in Tacoma.  Needless to say, it was a very quick transaction.....The salesman went over to his supervisor and I overheard him say, 'She's the real deal, let's just do this.'  I took the car out for a quick test drive and was pleased to see that this model still had a cassette deck.  I did not want, nor do I want, a CD player or an iPod dock.  I received a fair deal on both my trade-in and the financing of the car loan, and I drove off the lot in my new car. 

I needed this car because we had just bought the cursed property in Neilton on the Olympic Peninsula, and my 7 year old Saturn was already pushing 100,000 miles at the time I traded it in.  Neilton was just way too far away (150 miles/3.5 hours) and remote to put those kinds of miles on the Saturn, since we were up there almost every weekend that summer of '05.  Here is a pic my car and the place that we Never. Should've. Bought.  Biggest mistake ever on soooo many levels.  We sold the stupid place in 2006, and made a paltry $10,000 over the purchase price the year before, most of which went to the realtor and other fees, so we basically broke even.  But I digress.....

I loved my new car, though.  As Brian descended further into alcoholism and mental illness, I found myself increasingly on my own.  If I wanted to travel, I could count on it being me, myself and I, which was actually fine because there would be way less pressure and I could do what I wanted, without worrying that someone else wasn't having a good time.

In early August, 2006, I drove up to Vancouver, BC for a few days.  No pics of the car because I wasn't shooting digital yet and it being a major city, it stayed in the hotel garage most of the time I was there, except for the trip up to North Vancouver. 

Summer of 2007, I visited Vancouver Island for several days (2nd best trip in my life).  My car was on the Coho Ferry first out of Port Angeles, the Brentwood/Mill Bay ferry as a shortcut to Butchart Gardens and then on the Washington State ferry (seen below) back to Anacortes, WA.  Driving a car onto a ferry is an interesting experience. 

In the fall of 2007, I went to Portland OR and up to Mt. Hood.  Went back to Portland and Multnomah Falls in the fall of 2008 too.

2009 was a horrendous year, and my car faithfully ferried me to and from work as I attempted to cope with a life, and marriage, that was spinning out of control.  I made no trips that year except for a quick early morning junket to Seattle that summer.

In the spring of 2010, I took an overnight trip out to the coast, to Kalaloch and Ruby Beach, 4 hours away from my home.  Even more remote than  Neilton.  There isn't even cell service out there. 

In the summer of 2010, which would turn out to be my last summer in Washington, I finally went up to Sunrise at Mt. Rainier, and also did some day trips to Seattle.  Yes that's snow in the parking lot just below Sunrise, despite it being a very warm July day.  There's my bright blue jewel on the left.  The Sunrise parking lot is at 6,400 feet above sea level.  That's taller than Mt. Washington, the highest point in all of New England.

Here's my car, parked where I worked for 11 years in Fircrest, in February, 2011.  By this point, I knew my time in WA was coming to a rapid close. It got me to & from work many times over the years in the snow, through many, many rain and wind storms and horrible traffic.  In the first six months of 2011, I drove to Snoqualmie Falls, Olympia, Westport (on the coast), Mount St. Helens and Seattle, but unfortunately ran out of time to hit the rest of my WA Bucket List items before it was time to make the drive east.  I spent quite a bit of money on it prior to the trip too.

Pepper & I embarked on that epic cross country journey in my trusty car, much to Russell's chagrin at the tiny size of it.  He calls it 'the go kart with doors'.  We left from this hotel in Tukwila, WA. We encountered no issues at all on the way.  Another blessing.  

We even crossed the Great Divide.

My car has been to a total of 17 states and 1 Province:  British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin (below), Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, a sliver of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, a sliver of New Hampshire....

...it's even been to Maine!

This plate is now part of my collection.  The Grateful Dead frame has moved around to the front of the car.

This is probably the only car around here with a Canadian flag on the bumper, and from far western Canada no less.  I also haven't seen very many cars  out there, of any make or model, that are this colour.

Home. :)

I love this car.  It has sand in it from both coasts.  The back seat is a mess of dog hair, with sheets on the seat, extra towels, a road atlas, ice scraper and my mix tapes case.

My squeeze has been pressuring me to get a larger vehicle because this one is really too small for a guy his size.  I totally get that.  But I am very reluctant to get rid of it yet, partially for financial reasons (car payment, increased insurance & excise tax, etc) but mostly for sentimental reasons.  Of all the cars I've owned, this has been my favourite, although my first trusty Toyota made the journey west in 1989 and to every Dead show I ever went to, both on the east and west coasts.  And the 76 Monte Carlo I had through high school and college was bitchin too.  But this car has been the one constant in a very turbulent past 7 years.  I know that my car will need increasing repairs the older it gets, but I've always been so good about regular maintenance that it's been very reliable.

So for now I will continue to baby my car, and enjoy the journey.  Me & my Arrow.

God What a Week!

You know it's gonna be a shitty week, when your boss tells you on Friday afternoon (3/5) to be prepared, because Monday's gonna be a wicked bitch. OK, I can handle that. As long as I don't have to work over the weekend, I can deal w/ whatever fresh hell is in store for me on Monday morning. Therefore, last weekend was supposed to be a regular old weekend. Errands, crafting, blah blah blah.

Because I'm "one of those people" who prepares for every contingency when I go out of town, I decided to take my car to Jiffy Lube last Saturday morning for an oil change. We've used that company for years and years for our cars. They are quick, and it costs way less than taking the car down to the dealer in Puyallup and waiting eons for service. Because our vehicles are paid for, and because we can't afford to take on car payments, we are vigilant about keeping up with the maintenance. It was also time for the transmission to be flushed out and all that happy crap, so I had them do that as well. My freshly lubed and flushed car was done in about 45 minutes, and I was sent on my merry way, to the grocery store at the other end of town.

I pulled out onto Highway 410, and the car seemed to be running a bit rough and would buck with each shift (I have an automatic). I was growing more concerned, but decided to take the "Just call me Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" approach and turned up the radio. I turned into the Safeway parking lot and pulled into a parking space. Stepped on the brake. Car didn't stop. Oh crap. Oh fucking crap. My car bucked 3 times, rolled into the space in front of me (thankfully no one was parked there), and died. I sat there, bumming hard. I cannot miss work on Monday, or even be late!! Because Brian had to go into the office where he's working part time, I couldn't even borrow his truck. It was still before 9, and Brian was doing the Free World Pub at home, on the internet, so I had no way of letting him know I was in deep shit. I fished out the Jiffy Lube receipt and called them. They sent a tech down immediately, who attempted to trouble shoot the problem. He got the car going, and had me follow him back to the shop. When I got there, my car died in their parking lot. I so totally did NOT need this right now, ya know?

After about 10 minutes, they told me that everything was fine, they fixed it and I would have no further problems. I was shaken, and starting to question the wisdom of driving out to Kalaloch next week, when there ain't nothin' around for miles and miles; a place where you might see a logging truck or RV once in awhile and that's it. But I got back into the car and went back down to Safeway. It seemed OK, I pushed it a few times to get it to shift and was mostly satisfied, but still, something nagged at me. I went so far as to look up Kalaloch's cancelation policy when I got home that day.

Went to work on Monday and I was hypersensitive to every vibration and noise. Got there, survived the promised hell, and arrived home OK. I was still uneasy and spooked. Went to work OK on Tuesday, and was just starting to feel better when It Happened.

I left work and went thru 2 traffic lights OK. At the 3rd light to get on the Highway 16 exit ramp, my car stalled. Oh fuck are you kidding me? Am I going to be the "stupid fucking bonehead who's gone and fucked up the commute, and oh by the way, thank you VERY MUCH ASSHOLE' that I rail about on a daily basis? I waited for the green light, turned the ignition and got it going. I actually had to run the red light on the metered on ramp because I knew I'd never ever get going again if I had to stop. My car was dying. I knew it. I could feel it. No amount of gas was helping the situation. As I rounded the first turn and saw the stop and go traffic, I just admitted defeat, and pulled off into the breakdown lane, and activated the flashers, and hoped that no one would come whipping around that turn and drift into my lane. And OF COURSE my cell phone was about dead. I mean, why would it be charged? No no no. Mine has to be about dead. Now I have to plug the phone in, start the car and floor the gas to keep it running so that I can make phone calls.

Now, I'm not the kind of person who is good in an emergency. I'm the person who wails and cries, and panics and rends her clothes, and probably ends up dead. You definitely don't want to rely on me in an emergency because I am not sure I could ever rise to the occasion. I've made my peace with the fact that it's one of my many, many, MANY character flaws. I'm just not that person. Brian's that person. So the first place I call is work and I'm hysterically screaming at Debby that I've broken down on 16 and what the fuck am I gonna DOOOOOOOOOOOOO??????

She put Steve on and he tried to talk me down while she looked for the number of a tow service for me. She gave me the #, I call them and they tell me I have to call Triple A FIRST, and they will call the tow truck. Jesus H. Are you fucking KIDDING ME? So I hang up and call AAA who were really, really great. OMG the service rep was flying thru the info b/c she knew my phone was dying. She dispatched the same tow service I'd called and told me they should be there w/in a half hour. Meanwhile, I can't get ahold of Brian b/c he got a new Crackberry...I mean Blackberry....and for whatever reason, he's having major trouble receiving calls from my cell anymore. We've tested it. When I call, his phone does not ring. Steve told me that his wife and daughter just got new Crackberries and are complaining about the same thing, so it's clearly a design flaw. Either that or they are trying to sucker me into having to get a smart phone b/c mine is so obsolete that it can't interface with his.

Brian finally sees that he has like a billion missed calls from me, and finally calls me. I was hy-ster-i-cal. Seriously. And now I have to pee wicked bad. Naturally. He told me to just sit tight b/c the tow would probably be there soon and he'd meet me at the Korum dealership in Puyallup, where I was being towed. When we hung up I just burst out crying. I cried and cried. Breaking down on a major highway has always been one of my biggest fears, because I've been commuting on them for nearly 20 years. I tried to pull myself together and looked in the rear view mirror and saw a large tow truck coming up. I was hoping that it was mine and I nearly peed myself with relief when I saw his blinker come on. It was a huge truck, which quite frankly sounded to me as though it was going to conk out and need a tow as well. The gas gauge was on E too. So I just averted my eyes and hoped we'd be able to bounce and cough our way to Puyallup. I mean seriously, the way the last couple of years have gone, it would not have surprised me one single iota if the tow truck broke down too. But it didn't.

Oh, and I must insert here that, during my breakdown, I wouldn't listen to the news talk radio b/c I didn't want to hear myself on the traffic report.

And also, as a side note not one cop showed up, not one cop that was on Highway 16 stopped. Traffic was stop and go for quite some time next to me, and a Tacoma PD car edged right by me and never even acknowledged my existence. I turned and looked right at him and he was looking straight ahead. Fucker. AAA told me that they had notified the State Patrol, but I received zero assistance. Brian thinks it's because of my stickers & Grateful Dead license plate frame that the cop didn't stop. Brian's stickers are very politically inflammatory, mine are just pretty. At least I think so. So what if they are dragons & wolves, an elemental pentacle, a Maine Steal Your Face and a Canadian flag that says "Victoria"? Am I really being profiled as unworthy to help because of that? But I digress....

After we got to the dealer, which was fortunately still open, it was just a matter of paperwork and Brian taking me home. When I arrived, I had a Xanax for dinner. The next day, he got up at 6:30 and drove me to work. I felt so bad, but there was no other option and missing work was not an option, so needless to say, I appreciated it. I walked thru the front door and quipped to Steve, "Advil and coffee. Now." He broke up laughing. I marched to the kitchen to get a cup and pop a couple. I hadn't told him about what had happened w/ my car over the weekend, but it all came tumbling out now, including my abject terror of going to Kalaloch in a car I was now afraid to drive. Brian very sweetly was offering up his truck for me to use, b/c he didn't want me to miss my trip. But it's not my car. He has a CD player, and I like my mix tapes. I've always loved doing road trips in my car. It's been part of my life for a long time, traveling by myself in my car, having adventures and experiencing things that are my own. Steve even agreed with me that if I didn't feel 100% sure my car would make it to the coast and back, I shouldn't go. It's just too desolate.

At 10, Brian called to say that my car was done. I couldn't believe it. I asked if they told him what was wrong and he said it was something about a cracked clamp and debris that got inside. He picked me up at 3 and went to get my car. Turns out, the crack techs at Jiffy Lube had left a hose disconnected and a hose clamp was broken. When I was driving, a piece of cellophane got sucked up inside and blocked the air flow to the engine. They couldn't even move the car out of the parking spot into the garage till they removed the cellophane, which I got to keep as a souvenir of my breakdown on Highway 16, as depicted here at the bottom of my invoice. And only $90, which was not near as bad as what I was expecting. Again, nearly peed myself with relief.

Is it Jiffy Lube's fault? Probably. But Korum Hyundai certainly isn't going to come right out and say it. Am I going to hire an expert witness? Nah. Did I write letters to both Jiffy Lube Corporate in Texas and the Bonney Lake shop? Yes. I didn't come right out and ask for reimbursement, but I sent copies of the tow & dealer bills with my letters. Do I have a little more sympathy for people broken down on the highway during the commute? I guess.

My car's running really good now. I am more confident that I can make the trip to the coast on Friday, which is good because I have got to get the hell outta here and the long range weather forecast is looking pretty good.

Keep your fingers crossed that I encounter no further problems.