Days of Yore

I was reminded this morning after reading this
blog of days gone by when we too used to have to deal with the stress of traveling during the holiday season. I hope Net Ghost and JK^ won't think me a braggart for writing about how happy I am to not travel this year, but instead will feel a little bit better about their car travails when they recall the wonder that is the VW Bug.

So the first year that I lived in Chicago, Rob and I had planned to drive to Buffalo in what should be known as the shitmobile. We had only been in Chicago a couple of months, neither of us had good jobs and both of us had taken a while to find those jobs, so money was not exactly forthcoming. And that is the year that I discovered that a) my car still had a defect responsible for 8 recalls and 2 entire engine replacements that was no longer covered by warranty and not recalled anymore and b) bad things happen to your car only days before a road trip. Two days before our Christmas drive my check engine light came on and I went to the VW dealer where they told me my car was not drivable, wouldn't be for 2 weeks and would cost me $1000. And I sat there and cried and as I recall told the dealer's mechanic, "But how am I going to get home for Christmas??" As it happened, Rob and I had a very wonderful friend who offered to lend us her car! but also decided to not let those a-holes tell us what to do and drove it anyway. Because we were just that smart.

Over the six years that we were in Chicago, 3 times we had car problems just days before our drive, until the point where we decided to always rent a car for road trips. And alas this is how we discovered the Envoy. The car that it is my fondest dream to envision owning, although it is actually being discontinued this year (and also is American, so say no more).

Though not a car story, I would also like to take a moment to recall the Christmas that I pinched a nerve in my back and had to lay on the airport floor in tears waiting for our delayed flight and then sit unmoving in the most uncomfortable position for our whole flight. Good times. God it's good to be home.