And how Mom gave me Dad's car after he died?
Since July of 2011, the Taurus has sat, uninterrupted, in this exact spot. That's over two years of rain, sun, hail, snow, ice, leaves, bugs, and a cute little bunny who could be found behind the rear wheels on just about every morning. I made a couple of attempts to sell it, with one or two nibbles. But no takers. So the tires all went flat, the battery went dead, and it was going to take a little work to get it into running condition. And that's exactly what I needed to do, since I sold it to my step-niece!
S1 and her step-daughter's mom split the cost, which was about half of what I was hoping to get out of it when I quit driving it. I put in a new battery and filled up the tires (which, fortunately didn't need to be replaced). I took it to the Ford dealership here, just to be sure that I could drive it out to Portland. That's when the dollar signs started to add up. While it was in pretty good shape for a 17-y.o. car, my cute little bunny decided to start using the engine area as a smorgasbord. Wiring was nibbled upon, the serpentine belt was gnawed through, and a hose had a hole chewed through it. All simple fixes, but requiring the whole engine to be taken apart. Lots of hours of labor. Really expensive labor. So much so that the owner of the Ford dealership took 20% off the final bill because the estimate was so incredibly underestimated. Still, when all was said and done, I didn't make a penny on the car sale. In fact, when you total everything put into getting this car to Portland, I contributed a significant part to my step-niece's birthday present. But actually, I'm OK with that.
So the next step was to take a road trip to deliver my newly refurbished, soon-to-be-transferred car. Since it was a spontaneous trip, I couldn't really make any plans to meet up with anyone. Except for one--more on that in a minute. While I knew it was supposed to rain while I was there, I was not prepared for what I ran into! I've been in Portland in wet weather. And some nasty rain. But nothing like this! To be fair, the rain all day wasn't too terribly bad. I was even able to take the obligatory picture of Multnomah Falls from the parking lot--expecting that it would all be hidden in the low clouds.
However, the last 20 miles into Portland saw the most intense driving I have ever done. Wipers on the fastest speed did nothing to clear the windshield. There was a point where the rain dumped down harder than in a carwash. This was the same point when I wanted to stop in the middle of eight lanes of traffic and wait it out. I tailed the guy in front of me, praying that he knew what the hell he was doing. And highway signs letting me know where to exit, or which lanes to be in???...forget it! Couldn't see them! Obviously, I made it, and lived to tell about it. Whew!
I did get to schedule a lunch date with the Bipolar Diva! The first couple of places we went to hadn't opened yet, so we ended up in some neighborhood sports bar. Sort of a dive, but we didn't care. We talked for a couple of hours about you, politics, iPhones, secrets, the rain, and snuck in a bite to eat too! Of course, we had to fit in time for some pics! She looks great! I still need to work on my iPhone look...
On a different note...the fall edition of HNT is up!! Go check it out!