193,000 Miles is the End of the Road

The day finally arrived and its hitting me harder than I thought it would.

My car is gone. I could have put tons of money and time into trying to extend its life just a bit longer, but its time.

It had a tough life here in Chicago. Shortly after coming with me to Chicago from its original owner in Tinley Park, it was viciously assaulted twice while parked in parking lots and minding its own business. It also was rear-ended while having the audacity to be stopped at a red light. It was stolen and probably used as shelter by my former roommate with the gambling problem. It was towed a couple of times thanks to the Wrigleyville Parking Gestapo that has no mercy, as well as some unpaid parking tickets for which I have to take the blame (though The Gambler contributed his share as well).

In hindsight, it really is amazing my little 1993 Honda Civic lasted as long as it did.

Early on, despite the dents, it would happily take me to Jamestown, NY and back on a regular basis. It took me to numerous friends' weddings, a family reunion in the Smoky Mountains, and all over the Midwest for various weekend getaways.

Its last years were not its best. The air conditioning had long since stopped working, the rust was creeping in around where the various dents had been made by my fellow Chicago motorists, the radio was dead, and it had a recurring case of over-heating that would pop up from time to time and then just kind of go away.

I got the call from Ken at Tok's Auto and there was a long pause before he broke the news. Bad distributor, bad timing belt, and unfortunately, the car's computer was gone. There wasn't much else he could do.

I'm sure my dad is a bit proud that I have carried on his tradition of taking Civics to the very ends of their lives. I don't know if its a genetic quality or a learned response, but darned if I probably won't eventually get myself another Honda.

So my Civic died much as it lived, after dutifully starting up in the sub-freezing temperatures to bring me to Garcia's for a burrito. It just could never start back up on its own again. 193,000 miles was all it had in it. Thanks for taking me so many miles, little Civic.