Myrtle has reached 300,00 miles! She is a dependable old gal and I hope she keeps cranking out those miles. She has a few more rattles than before, her paint is a bit faded--but more importantly she carries me safely up and down the highway from show to show, and state to state.
For those who don't know, we bought Myrtle used about 15 years ago when I started doing craft shows. My new friend Lynn the SpiceLady pulled Rod aside after a weekend show in Orlando and told him point blank he needed to buy a van for me. She said doing craft shows in two cars--a Honda Civic and a Mazda Miata was not going to work.
Anyway, Myrtle is a Mercury Villager of the 1994 vintage. She had 65, 000 miles on her and the test drive revealed spotty air conditioning and a possible transmission problem. But when the blue book price was $11,000 and we got her for about $6,500--there was room to fix the problems. We put a new transmission in the first couple of months and the air conditioning lasted a year or so before it needed to be rehabbed. But, we still felt--make that we still feel like we got a great car for a fantastic price.
And then there is the old Honda. That was a 1989 Civic. Yes, a twenty five year old vehicle. We bought the original blue bomb in 1987, but, Rod wrecked it and never wanted his Dad to know. Since the body style hadn't changed, we bought the same exact car in 1989--and no one ever knew the difference. We had to send the Honda to the big scrappers yard in the sky after it finally bit the dust. It needed brakes--no big deal--but when the mechanic discovered a blown head gasket, it was time to call it quits. So, what was the final mileage on the Civic?
It was just a great car, but, it was ugly. Or at least it started getting ugly at about year 15. And, I can't say that I miss it sitting in the driveway--or paying the monthly insurance. Rod loved that car though. He drove it most days back and forth to Disney. It did leave him stranded a couple times--but never anything too serious. Except maybe the time we were coming home from Illinois and in Cartersville, Georgia, the clutch cable broke. On a Sunday. Leaving us stranded on I-75. Luckily at the end of the entrance ramp we had just cruised down after fueling up. Trouble was that we had a dog. And very little money. The tow truck driver took us by 2 hotels that were full until we got the last room at a "economy" motel on the north-most exit for Cartersville.
We lied about the dog to get the last room available. Then we spent the first night trying to get our dog not to bark. Patch had other ideas though...barking at every door slam, toilet flush and voice in the hallway. By morning we had not slept a wink. We were so worried about the dog and getting kicked out, Rod walked down to the gas station across the highway and made a call to the hotel asking if they took pets. THEY DID! So that was one worry off our mind.
The next big deal was if we would have enough money to pay for the hotel and the car repair. In our defense, it was the end of vacation. And we had plenty of room on THE ONE credit card to our name, but, we were newly married in our first house. Money was very tight. I got it in my mind that the repair shop was going to rip us off. So, we called all around to check on everything we were told. It all worked out--it turned out to be just the cable, not anything more serious and the price they were going to charge us was fair. The only problem was that they new part didn't arrive on Monday and we had to stay until Tuesday. Both of our jobs were no problem...they understood, luckily.
Another time, we were headed up to Rockford for Christmas and at the service plaza on the turnpike the Honda developed a leak in the radiator. That was just 25 miles outside of Orlando. I was crushed--I must have been really homesick that year. But Rod called around and got the car in that day to a mechanic who had us on the road the next day. Vacation that year was a little shorter, but, we made it, presents and all to Rockford.
Goodbye, little Honda. May you be reincarnated into a really sweet Lexus in your next life!!
P.S. Rod has already said he is thinking about getting another minivan. And, no. He is not going to sell the Miata to do that--it will be car #3...again. That nice, empty looking driveway didn't last long.
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