Living Car-less

Right after we got Lucky home, trying to recreate that First Car Celebration photo with you jump simultaneously.

When I returned to the South after 17 years in Chicago, I knew one of the things that I’d be giving up was reliable public transportation. I knew I’d have to get a car again after nearly two decades of biking, bussing and training.

I was grumpy about it.

I remember being on the lot at Carmax, stressed as hell, having saved up enough for a decent used car, but with both of us broke from moving across country, a fire at our apartment two days later, with me barely employed and Dean still looking, the last thing I wanted to do was to buy a car. “What kind of car are you looking for?” the friendly salesman asked. “I don’t want I car,” I blurted in frustration. “Weeeell…. nice meeting you?” he responded. Eventually I gave him our price range and we headed out onto the lot. He and Dean talked about video games while I glowered at various cars and kicked tires.

The first one we got inside smelled like cigarette smoke so intensely I almost gagged. “Yeah, that’ll go away after a while or you can get the interior cleaned,” Carmax Guy said. Nope. Next.

Merely to look like I was putting in a valiant effort, I climbed inside of this bright green clown car that was within our price range and not too terribly old. Dean and Carmax Guy climbed in with me. Ugh, I remember thinking, I cannot actually be liking this beacon of a vehicle?

But I did. For some reason after jumping in and out of half a dozen normal colored, perfectly decent cars—cigarette smoke notwithstanding—I felt a connection to this ridiculous, tiny dragon of a car. And thus, Lucky came home with us.

You know what would be fun? If we could ride horses everywhere!

Due to many factors, not the least of which is the cost of procuring any kind of vehicle right now, we’ve remained a one car family. Dean uses Lucky the most to go to work, and often stops at the grocery store on our way home. I’ll meet friends for coffee on the weekends, we’ll take the glass to the recycling, that’s about it other than the occasional visit to our families.

Still, it’s been interesting to see how much our life has been affected by owning a car.

Last weekend, I had the car out all day on Friday, which is rare. I had a haircut, stopped at the bank, and then the post office, then back home for work, then back out to get my AirPods repaired, then, on the way home, the check engine light came on. I’d suspected something was going on for a while. Our air conditioning had been inconsistent. We’d added freon, removed freon, checked all the logical fluid levels, gotten the oil changed with a clean bill of health, and yet…

It’s been hot in Nashville, with temperatures regularly breaking into the 100s. Still, this isn’t unusual and I felt that the car wasn’t cooling as it should. On the way back, I felt like it was going in and out even worse. I started trying to find a pattern. Does the AC actually blow colder when I’m going downhill or is that my imagination? Regardless, by the time that light came on, I had already decided we needed to have the car looked at.

Then two blocks from home, a new light came on accompanied by an incessant warning beep. The engine was overheating.

Since I was so close to home, I slowly pulled it into the driveway. We waited for it to cool, then got my dad on FaceTime and went over everything. Nothing obvious was wrong, but he suspected that the fan wasn’t coming on. We couldn’t safely drive the car. I cancelled all my plans for Saturday. It was 4pm on Friday by the time Dean called the auto place we’d taken it to once before. We left a message, knowing we wouldn’t hear anything until Monday.

We needed groceries, so we biked to the store. If we wanted Starbucks, we biked there. Or walked. When we were finally able to get the car in, sometime on Tuesday, Dean threw is bike in the back, and drove slowly to the garage, and biked himself home.

We used to bike everywhere in Chicago. I still do try and bike in Nashville when I’m able, but the fact of the matter is, it’s often not safe, or just much quicker and more convenient to take the car. (Especially if it’s raining.) But to be honest, I haven’t minded too much. Knowing that it’s temporary.

It’s kind of nice to bike to places with Dean again. Not something he’s been interested in. And we’re lucky that I work from home full time and that Dean’s job is flexible enough so that he’s able to work from home for situations like this.

It’s frustrating that we can’t go out of town and visit my parents this weekend. (We had at home plans, but they fell through.) And of course the repair cost is going to be significant. But it’s actually been nice biking to coffee shops and the grocery store together again. I’ve missed some of that.