Goodbye Intrepid

Mood: Nostalgic
Music: Your Song - Elton John
Cups of Coffee: 0

Well, K and I are now officially a one-car family. After starting to pour between $400 and $600 into the 1995 Dodge Intrepid every four months, we made a decision this past May to not sink any more money into it. So, when the transmission started clunking in June, we decided that it was the end. So, I am sure that you are asking yourself, "If you felt the car going in June, why is it that you are finally doing something about it at the end of August?" There's actually an easy explanation for this: This is the first car that K and I have had that we've "run into the ground," so to speak. So, when the car was officially dubbed as being "run into the ground," we really didn't know what to do with it. So, for two and a half months we did research as to what to do with it and received advice from several people about it. In the meantime, I was kinda' getting sick of seeing the thing just sitting in my driveway... not to mention the insurance that I was still paying on it. Last weekend, as I was having my weekly phone conversation to my bro in Seattle, we were talking about our mom and how she takes forever to actually do anything. My bro said, "You know, she spends so much time trying to find out what to do and seeking advice about what to do that she never gets around to doing anything about it." At that point it dawned on me that I put myself in the same position with the Intrepid. After that phone call, we made the decision to donate the car and get a pretty good deduction on this year's taxes. I contacted the appropriate organization and the car was just picked up about ten minutes ago.

As much as I'm glad to be rid of that headache, I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic about the loss of it. K and I had a lot of good memories associated with that car: we referred to it as the "beach car" when we lived in Florida for a summer, because we were always going to Jensen Beach in it; and I remember driving it to upstate NY from Dallas after we visited K's parents during spring break one year.

But it's gone now and the memories remain. I am not happy to say that my insurance rates will actually go up, now that I have removed my vehicle from the policy! I called my agent the other day to make arrangements to remove the car from the policy today and it turns out that our multi-car discount was more than the cost that I was paying to keep the Intrepid on the policy, so my rates are going up about $30 per month. How fucked up is that? I felt like asking them to just keep me insured for a vehicle that I no longer had - Well, actually, I did make an inquiry about it, but no, I couldn't do it.

So now the question remains: Will K and I be able to survive in Texas with one car? Since we haven't been driving the Intrepid, we really have been living as a one-car family for a while now, but then again, it's the summer: K and I are not both heavily involved with anything at the moment. Well, K is, but I'm not. I can't imagine that things will be easy once I start getting deep into my thesis project and K is working on her own things. But we'll see. I know that right now I am getting some severe cabin fever. K has been out every night this week for meetings, auditions, rehearsals, etc., and I've been stuck in the house. Understand that I'm not blaming K for this. I actually blame my state and local governments for not providing adequate bike lanes and public transportation. There's another problem with biking at this time of year in Texas: It's fucking hot! We have had so many 100+ days that I have lost count, and it doesn't show any signs of getting any cooler for a long time. If I remember correctly, it doesn't begin to cool down until the end of October. So we have to endure at least two more months of this shit.

Well, we shall see how things go. At this point, we can't get another vehicle no matter how much we might want or need one. We still have a couple of payments left on the Cavalier, and we simply cannot afford two car notes. Especially with gas prices how they are.

So, goodbye Intrepid. You were a good ride.