CRV in 2003!

Our only small SUV, purchased brand spanking new in March of 2003, is still going…strong. Okay, maybe I should accurately say, limping along but it’s a strong limp nonetheless. Our son, Ryan, drives it. The mileage is high—approaching 240K miles. It’s in the shop with Joe the Mechanic a lot, but usually for little pesky things like a tail light is out or the window went down and won’t go up. That last one cost us though, the window motor had to be replaced. 

Most people would be fed up if they had to unlock the passenger door to get in, but not us. It’s what we do to keep the ride alive. Frankly, it's more Ryan having to open and crawl over the seats to open the driver’s side lock. He’s thrilled if he has a passenger to help with the locked door arrangement. He unlocks the passenger as required, then the passenger gets in to unlock his driver’s door. This only plays out if the car is locked, which I think he does most of the time. 

The back seat is messy and the cargo area has become the repository of golf clubs, tennis rackets, tennis balls in a holder, bottled water, sunscreen and many more items. He says he has to lock it up so those items don’t walk away. I can't blame him there.

Instead of duck-tape, some areas of the car are covered in stickers to hide any imperfection, or, to spread the message that there is a NY Yankee fan driving the vehicle. Back in the day, I put on the first sticker of a quilt block. Thankfully, it’s never been removed and I grin when I see it and Ryan driving away in it with the sticker proudly displayed below the back bumper. Maybe someone will think twice about doing anything bad to the vehicle if they notice a quilt sticker…because quilters are good people, sew don't mess with our vehicle! 

Every time I enter this car, I say to no one in particular, this thing needs a cleaning. A deep cleaning. Ya know what I mean? I'd like it if Ryan would heed those words: deep cleaning. Those words I utter fall on deaf ears though. If the Peanuts character Linus had a car, this would be his, or something like it. I don’t know how Ryan “thinks” when driving with all the c-r-a-p in it. I certainly can’t. 

Nowadays, the only time I put my foot down to have it cleaned it is when we have a trip planned and go to Kelleys Island, Ohio. Since this model has an extra spare tire wheel on the back, it’s easy to put on a bike rack to travel. We’ve taken up to three bicycles on our tiny bike rack which is really quite remarkable. I'm lazy to buy another bike rack to fit onto a sedan, so we pray this elder vehicle will make it. Once home from this type of trip with bikes on the back, the car stays clean for the week or so. Then it goes back to the messy mess per usual, ugh!

I gave up wasting my breath in getting it cleaned up the rest of the year. However, I'm thinking if it gets cleaned up, and cleaned out, maybe it can reach the next mileage milestone of 250,00 miles. 

I'm crossing my fingers for both a quick tidy (at least) and reaching 250K. Ha!

BSoleille!

Terri