50,000

My goodness, it's hard to blog when you have family around who don't know you blog (and you are trying to keep it that way).

Yesterday I was driving the long drive into town when I looked at my odometer and saw it, exactly 50,000 miles.  When I drove the car off the lot it had 17 miles and that included my test drive.  To truly understand why I love my car you have to understand where I'm coming from.


My first car was a 1988 Reliant K car, it was 1998 and I was 18 and a senior in high school.  The side were white and shiny but the top was dull and yellowish from what I guess to be 10 years of under tree parking.  At first it wouldn't go over 50 in the highway (which I am sure my dad was alright with) and after that was fixed I brought it with me to college.  One day while I was working at the mall the car decided to spill a very full tank of gas all over the parking garage.  No one knows why it happened, the guess is a computer error but it was a mess.  The fire department had to be called, no one around me was allowed to start their car, and when flushing the gas the fire alarms in the mall went off. 

From that car I got my ex-boyfriend's old car, a 1987 Pontiac Fiero, yup a black 2 seater.  Can I tell you how fun it is to drive a car like that during a New England winter?  I drove this car from January 2000 until July 2000.  This car had a radiator issue and the cab would fill up with anti freeze exhaust.  At least anti freeze smells good.  My dad followed me to the shop to have it fixed and when I could no longer see through the fog I opened my window and my dad said it was like an old Cheech & Chong movie with the amount of smoke that came out.  That car quit on a drive home from Boston, I had just spent $300 to have the water pump fixed it over heated and the head gasket head cracked.  Dead.

After that my mom gave me her 1986 Buick Skylark.  No real stories about this, it was just ugly and I drove it until it died in 2001. 

From there my stepfather gave me his 1985 5 speed Ford Escort hatchback.  At one point it had been red but by the time I had it it was orange.  I drove that all of junior year.  It was my first stick shift and I am so glad that I was able to learn to drive stick on it, it had a band new clutch so yay!  This is the car I was driving when I blew a tire and did a 540 spin on 295 in Rhode Island and ended up facing the wrong direction in morning rush hour traffic.  This car was ghetto fab, while it was a POS car it had a CD player with a remote!  I drove it until the wheels literally fell off.

Next up was my 1988 Mercury Cougar.  This black monstrosity was a beast.  I used enough gas to keep a small middle eastern country running.  It had rear wheel drive so it was another horrible car for New England winters, unlike the Fiero I couldn't just pick this car up and move it.   It was a tank, the doors weighted more than me and the radio didn't always work.  The good thing about the car?  I could fit like 12 girls in there.  I drove that from 2002-early 2004.  That is when it died for good in my work parking lot.

Next, and last before my current car, my 1992 Honda Accord - a car from the 90s!  I loved it.  A coworker had a "beater" to sell and it became my every day car.  $500 and a few hundred on repairs and I drove that car from 2004-2007.  That was the single best investment I have ever made.  It didn't always turn on right away but it always eventually started.  We drove away from our wedding in that car, we drove to our new home in NC in that car.  I kind of loved that car and was sad when I finally sold it.

So in 2007, when we bought me a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe I felt like I was living a dream.  Finally a car that wasn't embarrassing to take through the drive thru, a car that started every time I turned it on, a car that Doc and I bought together.

Since then those 50,000 miles have taken me home to MA from NC for my sisters wedding.  From NC to GA to spend a week with my friend when her husband was KIA.  From MA to WA to our first real duty station after 2 years of training.  To and from 3 of Doc's deployments.  It was the first car TC ever rode in.  It brought Doc to the ER when he was having his initial TBI symptoms.  It brought is from WA to AZ to start a new chapter of our life.  Later this month it will be the first car our second daughter rides in.  I can't wait to see what the next 50,000 miles have in store.