I wish I had kept a log through the years of all the trips Greenie made, but let the number of miles
Greenie had when I turned him over to Glo suffice: 299, 773.
That is a heck of a lot of miles. The irony is not lost on me that the first trip I made in Greenie was with all of the kids before Ethan left on his mission, and we drove out to Utah--and the final trip I made in him was with Glo, taking him out to Utah. Yes, when Glo leaves BYU, I'll probably be there, helping her drive him to her next destination in life, but for now, it was goodbye.
I have loved Greenie almost like one of my own children. Before him, there had been numerous Toyota vans that I would drive into the ground at which point John would buy me another used van. But once we got Greenie, I wanted nor needed another car.
We bought him on a whim when we were out in Germany in late 2009. John wandered over to Volvo Military Sales cars, and thankfully they were willing to give us the military price for a new, custom XC60. We paid the down payment then and waited until April 2010 for him to be delivered to Pennsylvania. He was the nicest car I had ever owned, and knowing how much John likes used cars, he'll probably be the nicest I will EVER own. He was pimped out for our family with Sirius radio and DVD players and seat warmers. I came to know his radio controls so well that I didn't even need to look at the console if I wanted to see an artist on the display (versus the name of the song). People still think he's a new car because his paint and body look so good.
At 95,000 miles, we considered selling him. We weren't sure how much longer he would go, and we didn't want to have a lot of mechanic fees, but our home teacher, Tracy Kendall, told us to keep him because most of his miles were highway miles, and because I drove him very kindly. How glad I am that we did!
When we got in the accident a couple of months ago, I didn't want to get rid of him, but John had been itching to buy me a "new" car for years...and even more than that, Glo needs a car. We certainly can't buy her the same car for the mere $2,000 we can get for Greenie. And it makes me feel good knowing that Glo will be safe driving him. If anybody deserves to inherit him, it's Glo. She learned to drive with him, and she doesn't remember another car.
But shoot, there are a lot of memories tied up with Greenie. I love that car because of the college visits I made in him, because he was there when I broke my ankle, because he helped me learn to parallel park on the left side of the street in Philadelphia in spaces that should have been too small, because he would climb up our snow-covered driveway even though he wasn't AWD, because he got us everywhere we needed to be safely and in comfort.
It will be fun to see how further he can go on such little maintenance. In his ten years, we changed an alternator and the front axels, but that's it besides regular maintenance. He was a marvel.
That is a heck of a lot of miles. The irony is not lost on me that the first trip I made in Greenie was with all of the kids before Ethan left on his mission, and we drove out to Utah--and the final trip I made in him was with Glo, taking him out to Utah. Yes, when Glo leaves BYU, I'll probably be there, helping her drive him to her next destination in life, but for now, it was goodbye.
I have loved Greenie almost like one of my own children. Before him, there had been numerous Toyota vans that I would drive into the ground at which point John would buy me another used van. But once we got Greenie, I wanted nor needed another car.
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| What a throwback photo! Greenie outlasted Pearlie ;-) |
At 95,000 miles, we considered selling him. We weren't sure how much longer he would go, and we didn't want to have a lot of mechanic fees, but our home teacher, Tracy Kendall, told us to keep him because most of his miles were highway miles, and because I drove him very kindly. How glad I am that we did!
When we got in the accident a couple of months ago, I didn't want to get rid of him, but John had been itching to buy me a "new" car for years...and even more than that, Glo needs a car. We certainly can't buy her the same car for the mere $2,000 we can get for Greenie. And it makes me feel good knowing that Glo will be safe driving him. If anybody deserves to inherit him, it's Glo. She learned to drive with him, and she doesn't remember another car.
But shoot, there are a lot of memories tied up with Greenie. I love that car because of the college visits I made in him, because he was there when I broke my ankle, because he helped me learn to parallel park on the left side of the street in Philadelphia in spaces that should have been too small, because he would climb up our snow-covered driveway even though he wasn't AWD, because he got us everywhere we needed to be safely and in comfort.
It will be fun to see how further he can go on such little maintenance. In his ten years, we changed an alternator and the front axels, but that's it besides regular maintenance. He was a marvel.
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