August 4, 1999
DOWN HOME: It's hard to get
turned on about buying a car
___We took the ol' family sedan on our summer vacation. We arrived safely if not stylishly. But who says a car has to have all its hubcaps, especially plastic thingamajigs held on by wire clips?
___We drove 750 miles one way, which, believe it or not, is a lot farther than it sounds. A trip on the Interstate highway system is perversely comforting: You may think you're getting old, but surely you can't be aging as badly as those ancient roads.
Marv Knox
Editor
___Anyway, Lindsay--who will turn 16 this fall--pointed out every time we rolled within, oh, 75 miles of a new Volkswagen Beetle. This happened, oh, 453 times, give or take.
___The trip down was good. This time of year, air conditioning tops my thank-you prayer list. And our car's AC works faithfully, if not forcefully.
___By the way, we had a great trip. I didn't wear socks or long pants for days on end, which is one good marker of a great vacation. The other is shrimp, which the culinarily conscious among us consumed conspicuously. And another is dolphins, which we observed personally, if not up-close. We enjoyed the fellowship of two other families, longtime friends. And we read books. Who could ask for more?
___Me, for one. The morning we were to depart, our car wouldn't start. Felt like deja vu all over again. The last time our car wouldn't start, we were stranded in the mountains of New Mexico during last year's vacation.
___Fortunately for us, our friends Brent and Jackie already had experienced a broken-down vehicle. So, they already had scouted out the most honest mechanics in the vicinity of salt water.
___After we had the car towed to Hector and Sam's garage, Hector turned the key in the ignition, and you know what happened: Vroom. The idiot car started right off.
___"I can't tell you what's wrong with your car, my friend, because it's working fine," Hector told me.
___Sam speculated the problem might be a bad relay between the distributor and the fuel pump. So, Hector taught me how to sort of hot-wire the fuel pump fuse if the problem happened on the way home.
___Did you know you can drive a car 750 miles without turning it off? I wouldn't advise it, but if you want to get home badly, you can do it.
___Now, a lame fuel pump relay is the least of my worries. I envision an alliance between Lindsay, who wants a Bug but would settle for a sedan, and her mother, who has vowed never to take another vacation in "That Car."
___Will Jo get a new car? Will Lindsay get the sedan? Several divine virtues would help out here. I'd like to have the Lord's all-knowingness, so I could see how this will turn out. But I'd settle for the wisdom of Solomon, which I'll need in abundance.
___
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