As you can see...
I took these pictures today as my car rolled over the monumetal milestone of 200,000 miles.
Weeks ago, Eamonn had put the camera in the car so I would be ready for this event.
I brought the camera into the house and said, "Why is the camera in the car?" The camera never made it back into the car which is why when I was pulling into the Costco parking lot at 199,999 miles, I panicked because what in the world was I going to do because I could picture the camera in the kitchen and not in the car where it was supposed to be on this momentous occasion!?
Thank goodness for camera phones.
I took several shots that didn't work. Then I figured out I needed to turn off the flash, which can actually be done. After two years with this phone, I was able to figure this out at the moment of truth. Yay me.
So I pull into the Costco lot and just happen to look down and see 199,999. Whew. Glad I didn't miss it while randomly driving around.
Took the photos. Drove around the Costco parking lot to rack up another mile and took the 200k picture.
I'm pretty sure I alarmed some of the patrons with my continued circling.
Whatever.
And the thing is, I love this car. I do not want another one. In my mind, it can't be replaced. It's a '99 VW Passat Wagon and it was the last year these were made in Germany. Now they're made in Mexico. I feel unenthused about a German car made in Mexico.
It has been an amazing car. Other than routine maintenance, we've had nary a problem with it. KNOCK WOOD. KNOCKING WOOD LOUDLY RIGHT NOW.
I figure at least 100,000 of the miles have been to and from hockey and soccer games.
But in addition to sporting events, some of the VW's exploits include:
-Four roundtrips from Ohio to Colorado. And then one Ohio to Colorado trip (no return that time!)
-Two round trips Ohio to Florida
-Round trip Ohio to Ocean City
-Two round trips Ohio to Canada (Ontario)
-Two trips to Branson--one from Ohio, one from Colorado
-Countless trips to Utah
-Colorado to Yellowstone (Wyoming)
It has carried 12 Christmas trees (and nearly been stuck in the snow on one of those adventures--no four-wheel drive on our little car!), transported kids and pets alike (RIP Kirby!), was bumped in a parking lot once, had numerous windshields, and more sets of new tires than I have shoes (OK, that might be an exaggeration, but you get the point), has held bikes, tents, snowshoes, skiis, more bikes, hockey gear, soccer gear. Sometimes much of that was at the same time.
And in 12 years, when I take pictures of it turning over 400,000 miles, I swear I'll dust the dashboard before I take pictures.
6 comments:
Yay! I drove my '91 Previa Van into the ground...250K+ until it died....but I did get pictures of 100K and 200K and we were in the exact same place as for both! It wasn't planned but we had to drive around a mile to get the picture so everyone could be in the car and ended up on the backside of a hill that leads to our house.
May your car last longer than my van- the kids driving it is probabl what did it in!
Happy Tuesday!
You are getting some great value out of that car, Natalie.
And this:
"I feel unenthused about a German car made in Mexico."
TOTALLY CRACKED ME UP!
Thank you for validating the whole "take-a-picture-of-an-important-mileage-moment." Andy thinks I'm nuts. About 3K miles and I'll be taking a 100K picture. Congrats!
Isn't it funny how you get attached to a car? I was teary when I sold my honda civic -- it was the first car I bought all by my big girl self and it was so fun to drive. Not feeling quite so much love for the minivan, but I guess it serves its purpose.
On my bucket list... to drive a car to 200k miles! (Totally with you on the German car made in Mexico thing... that's just wrong.)
Hehe, my Gti mk4 has 400.000 miles and still works fine.
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