111,111

The Malibu 

My car’s odometer hit 111,111 on the way home tonight. When an odometer reaches a numerical milestone I always seem to reflect on my current set of wheels. (Additional inspiration came from my buddy Pat recent eulogy of his beloved set of wheels, “Neon Deion.”[http://www.kducks-rocketship.com/ see PW's Corner - "Farewell Neon Deion, You Served Me Well"]) My 1998 Chevrolet Malibu (The “BÜ”) has been one of the few wise purchases of my life. It has given much, and taken so little. Here is an overview of our time together, roughly sketched from oil change receipts.

43,106: She’s mine, although at the beginning I’ll have to admit I wasn’t all that thrilled. I mean, a blue 4-door sedan…you have got to be kidding me. The BÜ was too grown-up looking for a 21 year old college student. I didn’t really know what I wanted instead or what kind of ‘cool car’ I expected to be able to buy with my limited funds. So after the test drive went well, I decided that the BÜ would be mine. It did not take long for the BÜ to begin to feel like a perfectly worn-in shoe.

43,106 – 64,245: During the next two years of my life my car saw me through a new job clerking for an attorney in St. Paul, an apartment in Roseville, Senior Year: Part I, and movement to Taylor St. NE Minneapolis renting a room from Mr. Andrew.
Side trips to visit friends at various Midwest campuses, was another chunk of the mileage.

64,245 – 74,367: The 394 period - My job as a caddie required innumerable trips from one end of that smooth piece of asphalt to the other. Those 15 miles are forever burned into my frontal lobe.
During the summers I would often have the BÜ packed for a week – couple of spare sets of clothes (especially socks), golf clubs, softball mitt, Cliff bars, bottles of water, and various other summer essentials. The BÜ has been a great summer car in that its light grey interior never gets that hot in the sun, and the cloth sets reduce the occurrences of ‘swass.’
There was an occurrence during this period that typifies what kind of car the BÜ has been. Remus, Rachel, and I drove to a Sunday Dave Matthews Band concert at Alpine Valley (9/1/2002) the day of the show. The show started at 7pm, so we pulled out of town around 10am…figuring we had plenty of time to get there and pre-party. We were meeting our friends Tonya, Jeremy, and their assorted crew of miscreants for what was sure to be a great time.
Just before noon we decided to stop at Eau Claire for some food. I pull the BÜ, packed with 3 cases of beer, a tent, and a hibachi grill, into a parking spot in the Subway parking lot. As I step out of the car I hear “POP…fsssssssssssssssssssssss.” The rear driver’s side tire deflates in about 10 seconds. No! Not on the way to Dave, I thought. Not on a Sunday, Not in Eau Claire, of all the &*%$ times to let me down.
But we would be saved by a nearby WAL-MART tire center, that because of huge corporate greed was actually open on a Sunday. (A topic for another time) After I bribed the service techs with a case of beer, they moved the BÜ to the front of the line and soon we were back on the road with four new tires.
This story illuminates the BÜ’s personality. Not perfect, but never one to cause major inconvenience. I realized that the BÜ needed new tires months previous, but had put it off time and time again. It would have served me right had the tire blown on the free-way, or twenty miles later in the great-hinterland between Eau Claire and Baraboo, but instead the BÜ waited politely until an acceptable time before breaking down. All of the minor problems I’ve ever had with this car have come at times and places that made them small inconveniences instead of major hassles. That is arguably the most desirable trait a vehicle can have.

74,367 – 76,449: Arizona Dreaming – just the BÜ and me pulling out of Minneapolis in November of 2002. The BÜ was packed to the gills with most of my worldly possessions, and I am eager to hit the open road. There was just a bare-bones plan sketched-out. We sprint through Iowa and Nebraska, cruise through Colorado, turn South through New Mexico, and finish in Phoenix Arizona. Never was there a doubt in my mind that the BÜ would make it to AZ without incident.

76,449 – 84,532: The Desert Rat - The BÜ accompanied me on a number of day-trips around the Phoenix area including: Sedona, The Apache Trial (http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/apache_trail/), Colossal Cave, and Tombstone to name a few. The evening trips home from a golf course driving into the setting Arizona sun - Priceless.

84,532 – 88,162: The Pacific Coast Highway – My friend Remus flew down to Phoenix to accompany me on my return trip home. We had decided to drive West to LA and proceed up the Coast to Seattle before turning East for Minneapolis. I could fill pages describing that tour, but suffice it to say that it is the most beautiful landscape I’ve driven though.

88,162 – 111,111: More caddying, move to Stinson Blvd NE, Law School, and still more unfailing reliability from the BÜ. (The loud knocking you hear is me pounding on my wooden desk… not that I’m superstitious or anything.)

The car that I didn’t really want in the beginning has become the car, in the end, that I couldn’t have done without. Here’s to a great first 68,000 miles, and to a great 68,000 more.