An Overdue Goodbye

In the midst of everything else that we’ve had going on these past few months we made the executive decision at the end of May to get rid of my beloved Subaru WRX the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

It was an awesome car that I had for over eight years.  We had done road trips together all over the country, including a memorable break-in trip from Columbus, OH to LaCrosse, WI, countless drives between Columbus and Indianapolis, my mode of transportation as I dated in Bloomington while living in Indy, Lauren and I doing our first road trip out east to Trexlertown and the farm in Maryland for racing and hanging out, driving to Florida with Lauren, re-teaching Lauren how to drive a manual transmission, blowing an engine while having the cruise set at 50 mph in a rainstorm on I-465 at midnight and fighting for a warranty engine, playing in empty parking lots in the snow, and of course….a ticket for “lawn molestation” for having my tires touching the grass.

The Suby was an awesome car and stupid fast–a 4 door sports car wagon with all-wheel drive.

I had debated for months about selling it.  Insurance was still expensive even with my clean driving record and being married.  I can count on two hands the amount of times Lauren got into it and we used it after The Crash as she didn’t like being low to the ground, and it was getting to that point where it was going to need a lot of work and it was work that was going to be hard for me to do so I was paying shop rates for it.

I also debated how to sell it as I absolutely refused to sell it to a 17 year old who was promptly going to wrap it around a tree and kill himself.  So I finally dragged myself and the car up to CarMax to quote it, they gave me a great deal to sell it and we went back the next day to finish the deal.  It was rough, I’m pretty sure a tear or two were shed as I handed over the keys but it really was the right thing to do.

So, I’ve been making do with the Jeep all summer with the top off and just a bikini top on for shade.  It’s been a bit hot but I’ve only missed air conditioning one or two 105+ degree days.  I’m beginning to start car shopping again and have a good idea what I want–a truck that will make me fully Hoosier and having me own an automatic (I shudder at that thought).  But it’ll be practical for what we do and what I need it for.

Goodbye Suby–we spent a solid 119,245 miles together–thanks for always being a car that could tolerate my driving style and be fun without any nasty surprises.