the joys of automobile ownership

I first drove a Dodge Caliber in 2007, when I rented a car from Enterprise (they really do pick you up). I got it that summer, when K* came from Japan, and in the week we had it, I put over 3,000 miles on it. We drove down the coast and to Crater Lake, over the Cascades and up the back side in Oregon’s dry country. We drove out to Stonehenge and up to Timberline Lodge and out to the coast again for a really good sunset, and I LIKED THE CAR.

The Calibers cruise well and have no lack of power. They get decent gas mileage and are easy to drive. When I got a chance in 2008, I bought a Caliber ( I was sort of surprised that anyone would sell me a new car, but they gave me such a ridiculous trade-in price on my beater minivan that I had to say OK!).

I drove that blue Caliber for over a year then traded it on a loaded black Caliber, the one I have now. I bought it new; the car had 32 miles on the odometer when I drove it home, and 25 of those miles were my "test drive".

It has been a very good car; pretty much nothing has gone wrong with it in the time I’ve had it. The tires lasted 40 some thousand miles; K* replaced them for me for my birthday in March. I had the car’s oil changed, the tires rotated, and an inspection done yesterday. The front brake pads are worn – not worn out, but better replaced now than later, and omg, that’s rather expensive.

The bank, in it’s infinite wisdom, pretty much out of the blue, gave my credit card an increase (payments until the end of time?) and ya know, when money’s tight, maintenance often gets put off, and that’s bad for cars. I just talked to the credit union and got a deferred car payment, so I guess the brakes can get done; I made some calls and found a better price than the dealer’s; much as I’d like to keep my car "all Dodge", good ol’ Les Schwab’s had a better price, and Schwabbies does good work.

Ha. They still have my name on the computer; the minivan I used to have for the newspapers was at Schwabbies a lot.

Gotta take care of my black beauty. Washed and waxed it yesterday.

For one thing, because it’s really the credit union’s….

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