God, it was a good car. The term “van” always stuck in my throat, with its implication of a rolling crackerbox shifting overindulged children from one soulless suburban nowhere to another.
No, the 2005 Honda Odyssey was a car, in my mind. With a certain crouching, brawny beanishness, a V-6 engine that could punch the thing up to ... well, let’s just say, if another owner, not me, said he once got an Odyssey up to 120 miles an hour on a stretch of deserted Wyoming highway before some kind of electronic inhibitor system kicked in, I would tend to believe that anonymous, irresponsible person.
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| On the Bonneville Salt Flats. |
And go, go, go we did.
We took the Honda from Malibu to Nova Scotia. It parked in New York City and Los Angeles, navigated the Smoky Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, Venice Beach and Virginia Beach.
For five weeks in 2009, when the recession rattled the country and everybody at the paper was forced to take two weeks of unpaid vacation, the family drove from Chicago to the Redwood Forest, down the coast to Santa Monica, then back. Five weeks, 7,000 miles, nine national parks, 13 states, including a 20-minute nip through Idaho.
Not to forget the 10,000 tiny journeys, to the supermarket and chess tournaments, football practice and viola lessons.
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| The odometer read 180,240 miles when we said goodbye. |
I had a 2003 Acura MDX, your Odyssey's richer cousin. It was, hands down, the best vehicle we ever owned. She never once told me no. She was sure-footed and could plow through surprisingly deep snow. She got great gas mileage on the highway and like Dr. Who's Tardis, she was bigger on the inside than she was on the outside. At 187,000 miles and 16 years of reliable service, and for several other reasons, I traded her in in 2018. The dealer gave me $1,000 for her. I like the new car but I loved that Acura.
ReplyDeleteA lovely story and the photo at the top is priceless. But since you're the second person today to mention how a charitable donation is tax-deductible and thereby is really saving you money, I'm going to be grumpy and point out that almost no one can take advantage of the charitable deduction anymore. When the standard deductions were raised it simplified life for millions of taxpayers, and was probably the smart thing to do, but it effectively eliminated the economic incentive to make charitable contributions. Except for the rich, of course. It figures. https://taxfoundation.org/blog/charitable-deduction-tax-incentives/#:~:text=Raising%20the%20Standard%20Deduction%20Removed%2046%20Million%20Itemizers&text=As%20a%20result%2C%20IRS%20data,end%20of%20the%20income%20scale.
ReplyDeleteIt's always sad to say good-by to a faithful and reliable car...except when it stops being reliable. After some glassbowl on his phone clocked our black PT Cruiser in 2015, and banged up my wife, Mr. Ness (named for a neighbor's comment about it looking like a gangster car) was totaled. We bought another 2010 Cruiser...asilver one this time. Great shape. Certified by Chrysler. We felt lucky. No serious injuries, car replaced.
ReplyDeleteWe named it Mr. Cub (for Ernie Banks, and the Cub vanity plates) and drove it all over town and countryside, and went on a number of road trips.Took out the rear seats, and it became a small van. All was fine for quite a while. Until Mr. Cub began to need constant fixes. Like Gilda Radner said...it was always something — but still far cheaper than buying another car..
Until it wasn’t. Something was off in our electrical system, too. The car would lurch and jerk and soon it couldn't be driven over 50 MPH, so forget about the freeways.. Our mechanic would fix it and it would be fine for a while, and then we'd repeat the process. Over and over, for well over a year. What we had by 2022 was a beater.
Our mechanic offered to sell us...for a bargain price, and for half of what others were selling them for...a 2018 Ford Fiesta--small but zippy and great handling, lots of bells and whistles, good heat and AC, and far better gas mileage, which was becoming important again as gas prices rose sharply.
.Mr. Cub, re-painted and dented and battered, sat in our driveway as the holidays came and went. Our mechanic's employee considered taking it — his girlfriend had three kids and needed to take them to school. He thought he could fix it.. We went for a test drive, last January. His girlfriend offered me $700. Peanuts. But I wanted it gone, so the deal was made. I got out for the last time, and I, too, was grateful that our relationship was dead..
My wife and I said goodbye to Mr. Cub, with relief. We have driven Mr. Blue for eight months now. We've been to Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh. I occasionally see Mr. Cub, parked in a driveway a few miles from our house. The whole right side has been sideswiped and bashed-in, and the old Chrysler looks sad and bedraggled. I still feel a twinge. Old love dies hard.
The only car we have ever had that was stolen was a second hand VW beetle; we called it the 'Pickle' because it was the color of one. I drove our MG cuz I had the longer commute. We were living inSt. Louis at the time. One morning, my husband left for work and came back shortly after. He asked is I remembered where he had parked the car. (we lived in an apartment that had a variety of parking places. I said in front-he said it's gone. We called the police who took the information and make a report. HE said they'd probably never find it because it was a popular car to steal. He said, " it's probably going to be a dune buggy in CA soon." Great end for a fun little car.
ReplyDeleteWe have a 2003 Odyssey still plugging along. It passed its emissions test this summer. Great vehicle.
ReplyDeleteMy wife had an 04 Honda Odyssey, 11 cup holders, which was all the salesman could tell us about it. But I digress, in 06 we made the same journey. 7000 miles, 36 days, 14 states. We saw Zion, Brice & The Redwood Forest. Saw some beautiful vistas & a lava field in Idaho. Slept in a B&B lighthouse on the Oregon coast & some questionable motels on the road. We visited with relatives in Ca. & Az. The car was like a truck never needing any work util the last couple of years when it started to pull to the right & the brakes got mushy. Sold it to Carmax for wha I thought was a very good price.
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