I got to thinking about all the memories we have that include this vehicle. We bought her when she was only half this age. She was all shiny and new looking. She was the newest vehicle we had ever purchased. We were excited that she had A/C and cruise control--and that both worked at the same time!
This old girl has been with us through thick and thin. We've had many an adventure together. Some happy, like family vacations and excursions here and there. Her worn out carpet has spots of melted crayons and coffee stains, and blemishes from spilled soda. A lot of her many miles were spent in the happy company of kids singing and playing as we traveled on our merry way whether visiting family, taking a vacation or a field trip. We also spent many a mile discovering new roads and trails in our neck of the woods. There were also many miles that were not so happy. Soon after we got her we started making multiple trips to a doctor a few hours away due to complications with a pregnancy. If you could use a black light to find tear stains, I 'm sure it would illuminate many such spots as we journeyed, waiting for answers, wondering, hoping, praying. And then, the journey home after our little 8 day-old daughter passed away. There were also trips to the emergency room for injuries and accidents.
In all of these miles, she has left us stranded only a very few times. On one particular trip to the big city, a bearing went out and we spent 5 hours at an exit (thankfully there was a Dairy Queen and a Walmart there!) waiting for a trailer so we could haul her home. We've gotten used to some of her quirks, like the windshield wipers turning off and on when she decides! Every once in awhile, we have to tighten the battery cables, but all in all, she runs great!
We've added a few after market accessories to her. We broke a tail light on one of our other trucks ( identical to this vehicle). After searching for a replacement, we found we could buy a set of cool "urban" style ones for a third of the price of one new replacement one. So we souped up our family vehicle just for fun!
Other accessories that she has gained since we bought her were the snowplow attachment and the bumper sticker. She became the back-up vehicle when my husband was plowing last winter. Old trucks often break down and so we needed her to step up and take the place of another plow. Probably after 24 hours of plowing snow, radio blaring, windows down, forward, reverse, forward, reverse....she was ready to rest! As for the bumper sticker, my husband found this one and couldn't resist.
We have had our nicknames for her through the years. "Suburban" is a huge mouthful for youngsters, so at one time our little boy called it the "booban". It is still quite a mouthful when you are hollering at four children to "go get in the suburban", so at times we just call her the "sub" or "burb" or just the "car". When she seems a bit sluggish, the kids have heard me say "C'mon Bessie", though we never gave her an official moniker.
When something breaks down in the future, which no doubt at her advanced age will happen, we won't replace her, we'll just replace the broken part. My husband keeps the local auto parts store in business with our fleet of old vehicles and he is a master mechanic, able to fix anything that breaks!
It's rather unusual for such a lengthy blog to be written about one's vehicle, but this is redneck country, and we country folks keep our trucks for long enough that we become quite attached to them. So, here goes: Blogs are written by fools like me, but only Chevy will make it to 3 .......
hundred thousand that is............but you'll get that in a small town!
