The end of an era...

I know I have professed my love for my little red jeep almost exclusively during my (very few) blog posts, however - we have come to the end of an era my friend. I sold my jeep last Wednesday night and I'll you that it was PURE alignment of the stars that the new owner found me. Last Monday, I decided on a whim to list it on Craig's List (which I'm slightly addicted to btw)... 48 hours later, my jeep drove away. He was actually all ready to buy another jeep that he had been looking at and checked CL one more time and fell in love with the red and big tires (I know the feeling). So, the little red jeep is on to a better life - one filled with carefree romps in the sand dunes as opposed to the corporate commuter lifestyle I was forcing it to live.

Now, as I lament the fact that I'm driving a borrowed mini van, part of me can't help but remember the "fun" I've had in the past 6 months with that jeep to reaffirm that this was a good decision.

I think it all started when my jeep was broken into while I was downtown GR at an event at the GRAM last November. My work laptop was stolen along with plenty of personal books, my journal and a bunch of files from work. I took solace in considering that the person who stole my stuff needed help sorting through their life and relationship as well. Although I think they were more interested in money for crack as opposed to some good marital advice. I'm almost over the loss of my favorite nalgene water bottle.

From there we headed into some pretty cold winter weeks. Surprisingly Jeeps aren't too bad in the winter - even with a soft top and thankfully I had a decent heater - even if it only worked on HIGH! (this would eventually be fixed).

The night before I was to leave for a trip to California, there was a certain incident in which my hood wasn't latched and yes, like a comedic slap, came flying up while I was driving down the road. Picture the scene - the hood on a jeep is fairly square - there is really no where to look, no matter which way you bobble your head- up, down, side, up, down, side ... and finally out the window.

Shortly after I returned from California, there was the trip to the mechanic - I had a whole laundry list of things... the heater fan, the broken door handle from the robbers, the water pump (thus the unlatched hood) just to name a few...

I believe it was the lovely month of January when the locks completely froze on me. I had actually decided not to drive into work that day the roads were so bad. I also didn't bring my laptop with me the night before so what was I to do but play guitar hero all day. That does build an appetite so when I was ready for some late lunch, I came out to find my doors frozen. All I could think was - well, if the jeep has already been broken into with no damage, I can do that too! Of course, the zippers were frozen stuck as well. I finally got the zipper worked free on the back window and I climbed through a way smaller space than I ever thought possible and then I was somewhat stuck in the backseat trying to finagle my body plus my huge moon boots into the front seat without getting snow on everything. I managed to fold my body just so and cram my way into the driver's seat and thought, I should start the car to warm it up - maybe that will help. oh crap - the keys are still in the lock on the outside of the car. I just hope no one is watching me at this point. I thought it would be as easy as flipping the lock - but no - of course not. The whole mechanism was pretty stuck. I started to bang on the door in various places in hopes of knocking something loose. Instead I put my hand through the plastic on the door - sweet. one more thing I get to fix. I finally got the door open and started the car and thought - I will go to the auto store right now and buy some de-icer stuff. I get out of the car and try the door handles a few more times to be sure I got it and it seemed fine. I zipped up the back window and was feeling pretty proud of myself. I went back into the house to get my purse and came back out to my car and the door was stuck again. this time with the car running. ugh... you've got to be kidding me. well at least I knew I could fit my butt through the back window AGAIN. so that's what I did. and then I drove straight to autozone where I gladly paid the $1.99 for the lock de-icer. And with all the tweaking on my key to try to open the door, I thought it might not be a bad idea to get a few key copies made since the key that opens the door is also my ignition key. I can just see it now..... so moral of this part of the story is blowing your hot breath on the lock is just not going to cut it when the temperature in michigan drops 40 degrees in a matter of hours after your car has sat in a torrential downpour for the better part of the work day and of course, always make sure you have spare keys on hand.

Once winter became a distant memory, I took the time to get my hood fixed and some bumper damage from another fender bender (don't even ask), the rear u-joint and some other incidentals. Now, the most recent insanity with the fuel prices had me starting to rethink my commuter vehicle of choice as well, so it had been on my mind to sell it... eventually. Who knew - eventually would come so soon. PTL.

So like I said, last Wednesday night marked the end of an era when I handed over the key (plus the two new spares) for my little red jeep. While Duke and I watched Jerry drive away like a giddy 16 year old I reassured him (and myself) - that I'll always be 'redjeepgirl06' and we could always get another one some day. ha!!