Going into senior year at Crown Point High School was pretty awesome with a brand new Mustang. Jarrod Fodemski, another senior and one of my best friends, also had a new one (his was a red convertible, though). We felt awesome. I even remember having to pick up pizza for our entire econ class one day during summer school. Kyle Long, Jim Smith, and Katelin Klepsch all took turns driving it. It was a fun little joy ride. When homecoming came around, my date and I took it to the dance. In fact, I still have a picture of my dad and I at grandma's house (conveniently located in front of the high school - which has since been torn down) right before taking off.
Fast forward after high school, when I got accepted to the greatest place on earth Indiana University. Sally survived the long hauls (usually with Aimee Pancini - bestie since 3rd grade!) to Bloomington and back (I can't even count how many times), during all seasons of the year. This included taking trips up to Michigan to visit dad, Chicago for Chi Omega formals, and who knows where else. Freshman year and sophomore year first semester were interesting because it was then I was a pledge of Chi Omega. This didn't happen often, but there were nights where I was the designated sober driver (we all had to take turns - oh the joys of being a pledge). It was then that I successfully fit seven people (including myself) into my vehicle. I know that fitting seven people in many vehicles is child's play, but have you ever been in a Mustang, specifically the back seat of one? I still remember Megan Schlegel, who is about 5'10", laying across the entire front seat and laughing hysterically in my lap. Going back to Aimee...I never forgot the time I had to pick her up when we were in Bloomington because one of the tires on her Bug Convertible went flat. When I showed up, she was attempting to stick a piece of chewed gum on top of the hole of the tire in an attempt to stop additional air from leaking out. I can barely type as I recall the memory...I'm laughing so hard again. Then of course there was the time I had to rush Jacie Perkins to Indy for her hair extensions. I definitely got pulled over on the State Road 37 along the way. I told the guy we were headed to the airport. Yeah, he didn't care. That was a 93 mph ticket in a 55 speed limit zone (on a side note, I got 3 tickets in her overall - not too bad for a 12 year time frame). He even put me in the back of his vehicle to frighten me. I remember being in my pajamas when it all went down. I won't even get into the time I had to pick her up from FIJI. I'll never forget it. She wore a "Add a Chapter to your Life" baseball tee (all frat guys on campus had one), and she was carrying two red solo cups, one for each contact. She was also blind for a good seven days after that. Haha. Sorry Jacie, had to. Finally, another fantastic memory was when Michael Mills came running into his frat looking for me because I had let him borrow my car. I guess he had listened to one of my random CDs and Raspberry Beret by Prince had come on. Apparently he fell in love with the song and couldn't wait to tell me about it. Good memories.
Then there were also the not so good memories, like the time I was attending two summer school classes at IUN and was struck by a semi truck on I-65, forcing my car to spin out of control on the expressway while driving there. I can only think of two times in my entire life when I thought my life was in serious danger. You know how they say that when you think you are going to die your life flashes before you? Well, I can't agree that this was the case, but in the blink of an eye, I did think about all of the people that were very important to my life. Here is a picture from that awful day. The year was 2005. I was lucky that my car was repaired and not totaled. I was even luckier to walk away uninjured.
(Sally was involved in three accidents over the years. The one above - by far the worst - a slight fender bender in 2008 - my fault - and some redneck guy who side swiped me -and tried hiding from his insurance company this past September - his fault).
The other not so joyous memories of Sally were during atrocious winter storms. I remember one Thanksgiving holiday when Justin Warren and I were driving back to Crown Point from Plymouth, Michigan, and we drove right into blizzard like conditions. The town was called Kalamazoo, and there's a whole lot of nothing there. I remember we had to stop at a gas station, and when we were off and rolling again, we literally slid at the top of the entrance ramp right onto the expressway. It was scary then. I guess it's funny now. Then there was the time I was student teaching in Martinsville, Indiana, about twenty miles outside of Bloomington. The school district had a two hour delay for heavy fog, and by the time noon came around, the great outdoors looked like a winter wonderland. Typically when a snow storm is on it's way, school is let out early. However, because of the two hour delay earlier that day, the bus schedule couldn't be adjusted to allow an early release. The harder the snow fell, the harder I knew it was going to be to get back home. Not only did a bunch of the kids have to help push my vehicle out of the parking lot (getting a rear-wheel car to move in heavy snow is nearly impossible), but it took me over 3 hours to get back to Bloomington that day, a drive that typically took about 25 minutes.
Moving to Arizona was one of the best decisions I could have made, in part because of my vehicle. Before I even get into the Arizona stories, I first must discuss the trip driving to Arizona from Indiana. This was my first true "across the country" type road trip, as the job in which I interviewed for was over the phone. I literally moved there sight unseen. Dad drove the Rhino (we nicknamed it that...you'll see why shortly), and I drove Sally behind him. I'm not sure what was worse: his lack of radio, or my lack of cruise control (that's one thing I always wish I had, yet haven't used it once in the new ride). Anyway, the first day we drove from Crown Point, Indiana to Oklahoma City. Day two took us to Albuquerque. I'll never forget leaving Albuquerque on day 3. The views were some of the most incredible I have ever seen in my life, which made up for some of the most treacherous roads I have ever driven on my life. In my opinion, the drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix is pretty majestic, and I highly recommend taking the trip. We finally arrived to Kearny, Arizona on day 3.
With the Rhino in Kearny AZ, July 2007, at the tender age of 23 to start my teaching career.
Getting to Phoenix from Kearny (which is about an hour drive) was also never a small feat. Tucked into the mountains, taking rides to and from Kearny meant getting to use my lower gears for the first time and often. Crazy I know, but how many people can say they've needed to use their lower gears...ever? To put things into perspective, one time I had someone (who shall remain unnamed) in my vehicle who felt it was always necessary to be armed. One day, when we were on our way to the valley, he pulled out his Colt 45 and shot it out the window into the wilderness (I'm not kidding when I said rural). Now, other than the fact that this was probably very illegal (ridiculous that I was even in this situation since anyone who knows me at all could validate that I'm quite the rule follower), I'm pretty sure I also went slightly deaf for a few minutes. I wasn't kidding when I said there were some interesting memories in this car. This story is also a reminder that some people just aren't meant to be in my life. We all make mistakes I suppose.
Anyway, Kearny was a great place to launch my teaching career. I remember there was restaurant called Buzzy's (which burned to a crisp recently - but from what I hear is getting re-built), and I was obsessed. There would be days when I'd let Colt McClennon, one of my students, take my car to fetch me lunch from there. I'm not sure allowing one of my students to drive my vehicle was ever a good idea, but hey, he was responsible, and the place was just up the road. One of my other highlights was having the ability to kill rattlesnakes with the Mustang. Living in essentially the middle of nowhere meant there was wildlife everywhere. I'd get excited (and grossed out) every time I saw a vicious looking snake on the road. I don't hate many things in life, but I can assure you that I absolutely hate snakes, specifically poisonous ones. Running them over was always a treat. There was so little to do in Kearny, so when I wasn't riding out in the hills with JP on the quads (some of my best memories ever), there were many times I'd take drives in the car just to think.
Fast forward two years, and I moved to what Arizonians refer to as "The Valley". Going back to crappy weather (we'll get this out of the way), snow in the Phoenix metropolitan area (The Valley) is incredibly rare. In fact, my debit card has been used to scrape ice. Here's a pic from winter 2012.
Enough of the cold weather stories. I remember moving to Phoenix and thinking the expressways (known as freeways here), felt like a race track. With no potholes or construction zones, it was easy to fly. One of the most classic memories was when I was actually in the passenger side of Jade Cantu's Scion. One day, she turned the windshield wipers on and one flew completely off of the vehicle. I made fun of her endlessly. The joke was on me, though, because the very next time she sat in the passenger side of my vehicle, I too turned on the windshield wipers to make fun of her, and shockingly enough one of mine flew off. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Then of course there was the very best weekend of 2013, when my buddies Ken Doll Sothman (local Indiana celebrity) and Ryan Camden flew into town for a little Spring Break fun. Now, the weekend is a quite a blur, but one memory sticks out vividly. In between some R&R and Gilligan's fun, Ken, Megan, and I ran back to my house to change. On the way, we caught some Bieber fever and listened to Beauty and a Beat on repeat. Ken Doll probably died a little bit that day. Finally, there was last April 2013 when Aimee finally visited me in AZ. Upon her arrival from the airport, we practically ended up right at the legendary Rusty Spur. Long story short, she ended up getting sick in Sally on our way home. Miraculously, none of it got in the car. I still don't know how she pulled that off.
I know technically this is a blog about the adventures of me and my dog, so it wouldn't make sense not to include him, especially because going "bye byes" is one of Alfredo's absolute favorite things to do in the world. Alfredo spent lots of time in Sally, from the very first time I picked him up (he slept in my lap the entire way home), to taking various trips - Dallas, Indiana, Michigan, etc. all over the country.
Okay, so I know this isn't the most cautious way of driving, but what can I say, he loves checking things out. Hey Fredo, How's traffic?!
Aside from driving from the great Midwest to Arizona (three times in Sally, actually), I did take quite a few road trips in her. Road trips happen to be one of my favorite hobbies, which is great, because Arizona itself certainly has so much to see and do. One trip specifically, which was to San Diego in January 2013, rings a bell. My friend Josh and I were headed out of town just to get away for the weekend, and along the way we were stopped by border patrol on I-8 (this is common because of the high volume of illegals in the area). On one of the stops, we were asked if we had any fruit (specifically oranges) in the car. We didn't, but the part that's hilarious is that we happened to pull behind a very large truck who passed through, which was filled with oranges. We were thinking, "Really?! They weren't going to let me go through if I had oranges, but they let that guy?!" Maybe you had to be there.
The most recent (and last...tear) road trip I took in Sally was to Sedona in November. Sometimes when life throws lemons your way (funny, since I was just talking about fruit), it's not always easy to make lemonade. For years my sanity and stress reliever has been running, but I'm afraid I needed more support this time around. This is where Sedona comes in handy. It is the absolute best place to seek refuge from any of life's challenges. I don't have a picture of Sally from this trip, but I do have a pretty fantastic picture of my furry kid and I from a hike we took on Bell Rock.
By the way, I'm not sure who likes Sedona more...me or Alfredo...fruit (ah, fruit again!) doesn't fall far from the tree I guess...
I think at this point this blog post is getting a bit frazzled, so I guess I'll wrap it up by saying by nature I'm not much of a superstitious person, but on December 13th (in other words, Friday the 13th), Sally's fuel pump went out. Conveniently (I'm being sarcastic), mom was flying in one hour later. Here's the very short version of this story: on Friday morning I walked out to the car to go to work. She wouldn't start. After about the sixth try, she finally did, but I knew something was wrong. I drove to work, tried to start her at lunch (she did), so I went back inside and continued my day. After work she started again, but she struggled. I called Firestone on the way home, stopped at home to grab the dog (while leaving the car running - wasn't sure if I'd get her to start again), drove to Firestone (with the dog), and waited. The problem ended up being the fuel pump, a $680 fix. I decided it was time to go car shopping, so the guys let Sally stick around in their parking lot. I literally couldn't even drive it to the airport to get mom. Even the mechanics couldn't get it started.
So, now I was at Firestone, with Alfredo, and no working vehicle. Mind you, mom's flight was fast approaching. While one of the associates ran around the store with Alfredo, I started dialing numbers. Whitney Tarbutton, my twin in many ways, had her boyfriend come pick up me and the dog so that we could at least get back to the Tuna Can (this is the name for the condo in which I live). From the Tuna Can, my next door neighbor, Stacie, drove me to the airport and dropped me off at the rental car location, which was another adventure in itself. Long story short, mom gave me a Sally contribution as part of my Christmas present, and I also purchased this cute little thing on the following day:
I was blessed that someone through a family friend was immediately interested in the Mustang, but it was incredibly difficult giving her up. I kept her for a couple of weeks before selling her and drove her around as much as I could. It's funny, because on the very last drive I took as the owner, I also tried something new for the very first time. My final memory with her was driving to Dutch Bros. Coffee for the very first time, right across from the bank where she was ultimately sold.
(James was right. Dutch Bros. hot chocolate is so much better than Starbucks hot chocolate.)
Once the transaction was all said and done, the new owner, Taylor, offered to drive me back to my place. It's funny, because she was nervous about driving it and had me drive it home. It reminded me exactly of mom driving it off the lot when it first became mine all those years ago.
Taylor was nice enough to take one final picture of me with the car. I gave Sally a hug (the best way I could), and smiled (even though I was crying on the inside). When she pulled away, I walked into the condo and cried like a baby for a good ten minutes. I had to get it all out of my system.
Maybe it was destiny to grow up with a yellow Mustang. After all, it resembled my Big Wheel.
I'm just grateful it wasn't sold to a complete stranger so that I can check in to see how Sally is doing, and I'm even more grateful that she lasted me as long as she did (162,569 miles, to be exact).
