If you ask any older person it seems they could talk for hours on the stories about their first car. Today my first car is on the last bit of it's life. I figure maybe someday if internet still exists, my kids might be looking through this blog, and will appreciate this kinda entry.
If I am like every other old person, I will probably want to sit back and reminisce on it. So I figure right now in the present is the best time to document my first car memories. Kinda as a farewell letter I guess you could say. :D
It's a little 1990 Ford Ranger. Being that it was created the same year I was born, I tell often like to brag to folks that I am doing a lot better than it is. My grandpa picked it up for $800 in 2007. I have had a lot of memories with it. Some that show physically.
One of the first physical traits about it that makes me giggle feeling hillbilly is the duct taped front.
There was a time that I went out for a random joy ride in the country. It was a Wednesday. I was supposed to be in a meeting, but it got done way sooner than scheduled. My mom, dad, and brother were all at church. Coming around a corner, I didn't realize just how sharp of a corner it was. I slammed on my breaks and went off the pavement a bit. This made my tires slide, causing me to spin a 180. All I can remember was the big drop off I saw up ahead, and thinking, "Oh great, they will never find out what happened to me." While still screaming and trying to stop, my truck crossed lanes and I slammed into the side of the hill.
I was still quite a bit dazed when a car full of boys my age came driving by. With their jaws all dropped, fingers pointed at me, they all laughed hysterically as they passed me and kept on driving. I was about ready to burst into tears over the fact they didn't help me. Don't know how, but I some how manage to not shed a single tear over the ordeal. A while later a guy and his granddaughter came by and were able to stop and help me get back to civilization.
The front fender was busted off and the body was smashed in. But my dad did an impressive job of hiding the fact.
Speaking of my dad makes me think of another dent in it. On the side on the back end.
My dad drives a big ole diseal truck. Comes across as tough and rough. But one day while coming down the driveway with a trailer attached, he accidently drove the side of his truck into my parked dinker. His had to be repaired at a shop. Mine just got this tiny dent.
Ha ha! I guess that's why they say, Built Ford tough!
My truck has so many miles on it, that the mileage display reset. So in a way, it has only driven 30k miles in 20 years.
One day I was driving home and I heard a loud scraping beneath me. Freaked me out a bit. Pulled over and saw half my exhaust pipe was being drug along by the tiny bit still attached.
TIRES!
Tires are possible the most aggravating and yet hilarious parts of my trucks legacy. I have the absolute worst time with them! The guys down at the tire shop laugh every time I pull in. It's always the same, "Again?! Ha ha ha"
Some of them even wave at me when I see them in the grocery store. Their work is like my 2nd home.
It's something different every time too. Oh! There was one day that my starter went bad at work. My dad had to drive 30 minutes to come help me. Once he got it started he said the tire was also bad. Made my co-worker laugh when I told her my car wouldn't start, but she saw us changing a tire.
With all that said, I am sure glad I had something to drive these past 4 years. It drove me to sports practices, to friends houses, it drove me to my high school graduation, to my first day of college. My first year of college was so extremely hard on me emotionally. Through every bad day, if I was too upset to want to go home, it was there to drive me around until I felt calmer.
It's funny when I actually take a minute to think about it. A car is the thing that is with you for part of all your memories. It takes you to that great day at work, or to that funeral, or to that party. For some people it's the birth place of their child!
So I believe my truck has lived a long and fufilled life. All good things must come to an end. I hope it will hang on a little while longer.......until I can find something new!
Oh, and hopefully my next blog will have mention of something new?????
