Goodbye Suburban, Hi Ho Silverado!

My first car was a Volkswagen Bug which Dad gave me after he ran it into a tree.  He was trying to avoid a dog, which sadly did not survive, resulting in a dented and mangled front end, with lopsided headlights. Kind of like a Disney character.  

Looked like this only with a smashed in front

I drove my deformed Bug all over the place - Reno, Tahoe, Idaho, San Francisco, Big Sur, and eventually relocated to San Diego.  It held all my belongings – a bean bag chair, a few clothes and my dog.   I drove it until it met its unfortunate demise on a cliff in Baja California - RIP.  But that's another story.  Tell you later. Maybe. 

I drove a succession of cars after that, from Toyotas to Porsches.  When I was married with young children who had just outgrown the need for car seats, we made the giant leap from family mini van to luxury SUV.  In 2003 we became the proud owners of a brand new loaded burgundy red Chevy Suburban with heated leather seats and a moon roof.  We named it Big Red after the gum and called it our Cowboy Cadillac.  (Even though none of us was a cowboy at the time.)  My seven year old son was particularly proud of this car.  Picking him up from school one day, he stood up on the front seat, poked his head out of the moon roof, and yelled to his friend on the playground, “Nicholath!  New car!  Ith a Thuburbun!”   

Photo from Internet. Mine had a big old bike rack on the back.

   

This car carried us safely through the years as our kids morphed from adorable children into young adults.  It held all my daughter’s friends on excursions to the beach and numerous field trips.  Both my daughter and son learned to drive in Big Red.  We made the same long road trip through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas three years in a row.   

Road Trip to Lake Havasu

 

Krista and Calli

 It carried us to Reno to say goodbye to my dad when he died.  And it opened wide to hold our two large dogs, seven birds, and two bunnies when we evacuated from our home during the 2007 wildfires, never to return.

It moved me away from my husband when our marriage dissolved.  It witnessed our joyful times and all our pain and grief.  

As the years went on, I started pouring more and more money into Big Red.  The outside temperature and direction indicators, useful during road trips, packed up and left, and the blinkers went on stirke, only blinking when they felt like it. Then the fuel gauge lost its mind, its needle swinging wildly from EMPTY to FULL as I drove along, making a fun guessing game of how much fuel was left.  I did pretty good for over a year, but my luck ran out one cold December night on the freeway.  Suddenly, the guessing game wasn't fun any more and I didn’t feel very safe either. The engine light started glaring at me, indicating a gas leak.  It was time to let Big Red go.

On Valentine’s Day 2013, almost 10 years to the day we drove home with Big Red, I bought a beautiful Chevy Silverado, Ruby Red.  (can you tell I like the color red??)  I have to say, although I am ecstatic to have a beautiful car where everything, including the gas gauge and blinkers, are in perfect working order, I was a little sad and nostalgic about leaving Big Red behind in the dealership parking lot.  After all, it had been such a big part of our lives and held so many memories.  What would happen to it now?  I cursed myself for not thinking to take a picture before parting from it for good.   It’s always been a struggle for me to keep my eyes out of that rear view mirror.  The next day I drove back to the dealership, hoping to find it and take one last picture, but it was gone. 

Moving on, I am enjoying my Cowgirl Cadillac with that new car smell, black leather heated seats and moon roof.  I love the smooth ride of Ruby Red, and hope it will see me through many, and hopefully happier, years ahead.  And yes, now I truly am a Cowgirl.

My Ruby Red Cowgirl Cadillac

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Ho Silverado!