When I bought my first and only new car, a 2004 Saturn Ion, in December 2003, I was so proud I sent photos of it to several family members and friends.
That was 13 years ago and it now has around 133,000 miles on it. In the past few years, I've been driving less and less. It is so crowded and dangerous around here, with people dressed in all black walking right out in front of your car at dusk, bicyclists dart in and out of traffic and many other hazards exist.
I opened Uber and Lyft accounts for my younger kids plus the boys both have their own cars now. Except for going to Safeway now and then or my dentist, the only "trips" I take are to my kids' houses, on Bernal, Glen Park, San Jose or El Cerrito.
A couple months back I got a notice that I needed to get a smog certificate by December 28th in order to get my car registration renewed. Yesterday, after weeks of procrastination, I drove the car to a nearby Shell station but the smog guys were late and nowhere to be seen. So I drove down Potrero to a little hole in the wall place I'd noticed over the years and they agreed to give it a smog test for $40 (a very good price.)
It failed. Then, after the stress of the test it failed to start and could not be jump-started.
It has a new battery so I knew that could not be the problem. The mechanics determined it was the ignition switch. They also told me that once they installed a new switch the car would have to travel 300 miles to build up enough computer memory for it to pass the test.
Worse, they could not get the needed part until next Tuesday, the 20th.
As I absorbed this news, and imagined the very expensive tickets no doubt awaiting me as the registration runs out, I called my oldest son, Peter, and asked him if he might be able to drive the car 300 miles over the coming week.
He said yes.
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