Out with the old

As all good things must come to an end so does my relationship with my trusty steed and machanical sidekick for the past 9 years. I bought Action Jackson (aka my black, 2dr, honda civic) on October 10, 2005. I remember the date vividly because I had to hurry up and rush over to Qualcomm for the Monday night Charger v Steerler game (Steelers won by 2...)

It was my very first new car and the purchasing process was easy peasy. I had already done my research and knew exactly what I wanted. A friend of mine, who dabbles in car sales on the side, was there to help me through the whole transaction. He knew the right Q's to ask, did all the negotiating and all I had to do was sign my name a gazillion times. We were in and out in less than an hour. Thanks Jeff!  

I drove off that lot w/only 4 miles on my car, and sold it almost exactly 9 years later with 102,645. With the exception of a handful of miles when someone else needed to drive my car for one reason or another (mostly alcohol related, safety first!!) I pretty much drove all those miles by myself.

And what a weird concept if you think about it. It's approx 240,000 miles from here to the moon and the circumference of the earth is about 25k. So that would mean distance wise, I've single handedly drove around this planet 4+ times and made it almost half way to the moon (providing there was such an infrastructure to actually allow you to do that). 

Not only did Jackson and I share thousands of miles together, the adventures I've had in that vehicle were priceless. On the West coast we traveled as far north as San Fransico and way down into Baja.  (That car has gone south of the boarder and cruised around Mexico more times than I have ever admitted to my mother.)  Conversely, on the East coast we've traveled as far south as Georgia, up into the great state of Maine.

As sad as I am to have to part with this fine piece of machinery, it was time.  Action Jackson is definately a California car.  And at the time of purchase, I had no intentions of ever living back in the Northeast. But now that I'm here (with no significant plans of changing that anytime soon) and need to drive in ridiculous elements, I need a car that can safely preform in weather. 

KB just bought a new SUV so I bought her Jeep Cheerokee (newer than Jackson w/about 30 k miles less) It was a tough decision but I think it was the right one. And when I need to throw that jeep into 4wd for the 1st time, there will be no question that I made the right decision. 

Besides, if I ever do decide to drive back to California, the jeep will be just perfect for my Mexican road trips :))