An ode to an old car: 93 Volvo 940

Recently, I had to retire my beloved old car, Svetlana or Svetty for short. She was a 1993 Volvo 940, so while not one of the sexier, i.e. turbo-charged, of the bunch she got me around for over 14 years. People love their Turbos, and for good reason- my gal was equipped with a 4-cylinder engine to carry her 4,000-ish pound body, which translated to an underwhelming acceleration up long inclines, but smooth and comfortable coasting on freeways, once she got up to speed.  I could get her going quite fast, considering- close to 100 MPH, and she easily handled the long stretches of 70-mph roads spanning much of the desert and rural areas. To be honest, I'm a bit of a cautious driver and have been for a long time, though the accident that caused me to lose Svetty has only increased that trepidation I've felt since. 

Given that the average age of the cars on American roads is about 11 years, and most people only keep their cars for an average of about 6 years, I'd gone well above and beyond that with my old gal. She kept driving, even past 200,000 miles, and she was comfortable. I drove her throughout college, and when I traveled to Japan my family kept the car running so that I could drive her upon returning- a nice familiarity after some reverse-culture shock and the challenges of readjusting to life in the US of A. She'd driven from Vegas to Seattle, then back up North, along with many other shorter road trips throughout the nearby regions.  I'd gotten a lot of work done on her to keep her going, too: replaced the transmission, had an after-market stereo system with Bluetooth and new speakers installed, replaced the fuel pump, her starter, multiple batteries, radiators, countless hoses, wires, lights, and more. These things happen, and general maintenance is always going to be required to keep an older vehicle moving, but she sure did, up until she didn't. 

And really, even after the accident, she would start and drive- but the battery had been cracked and was leaking battery acid all over, so I was worried about the potential for electrical fires or other issues arising. She probably could have been saved, had I the knowledge or skills needed to do the bodywork, or the money available to pay someone else for it. Alas, I lack the skills and the funds, and as much as I love the old girl (and still do), the accident was really traumatic for me and I wasn't sure I'd ever feel quite the same driving her, even if I did sink in the cost of the extensive repairs and had her thoroughly rebuilt. I opted to let her go, with much grief and extensive mourning. Not only was I losing a reliable companion of over a decade, but it had been just as long since I'd entered the intimidating and frustrating world of car-buying. Maybe it's less frustrating for people with excellent credit and cushy bank accounts, but in my initial search I spent over $500 on getting different cars inspected only to learn the mechanic would advise against committing to any of them. I found a 1981 Volvo 242 or so that was absolutely adorable, but it had its own cast of challenges given its age and condition. It took a couple of months of searching and looking into different financing options before we finally landed on my new ride, who is similar to Svetty in being of European make, blocky, and white, so the familiarity helps ease the transition pains. As much as I adored my Svetty, there are things to be said for the advancements of technology over the last 26 or so years, like additional airbags, inbuilt Bluetooth, anti-lock brakes, and other safety features. 

Even so, I'm going to miss the old gal. She got me where I needed to go, more often than not, for many, many years. Despite all the changes life throws at us in the course of 14 years, she remained a stalwart and steadfast friend. Even in her final moments, she kept me safe and shielded from the force of a Toyota Sienna trying to coexist in the same space as me, allowing me to walk away unharmed, and for that I will be forever grateful.

You're a good girl, Svetty. 

Thanks for everything. 

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Vegas: Accidents and Nature

Accidents happen. In a city where alcohol consumption is highly encouraged and made highly accessible, accidents might happen at a higher than average rate. I certainly have no idea whether the driver of the vehicle pictured above was drinking, and it was rather early in the day, but who knows. Life is mysterious and full of many unknowns and unanswered questions. One thing we do know for certain is that the driver of the aforementioned vehicle was not having the best day of her life, no sir. 

Hopefully things have all been taken care of, as this occurred several months back now. No one was injured, except for perhaps the driver's pride, but considering that it was a highly trafficked parking lot with a lot of pedestrian traffic, things really could have gone much worse. 

And while I wasn't involved in any direct way, I do have to admit that seeing car accidents can cause my anxiety to go up a wee bit. So, lucky for us, Antho happened to snap some nice shots of dew drops forming on grass, along with some other nature scenery, to take the edge off of the unfortunate collision of metal above.

There we go, much better. Look at those lovely shades of green! A lush oasis is hidden in the Vegas valley, in the midst of the Mojave desert! Lovely. The blue sky above speckled with scattered wisps of clouds, clear and bright. I mean, we all have accidents in life from time to time, and while it can be easy to dwell on the pain and inconvenience they can cause, we should really be grateful that we're able to walk away from them. There are so many ways to blink out of existence and be gone before we know what hit us, each day we make it out alive is a triumph over the odds.  I know that for me, that realization has made a profound impact on how I view aging and birthdays. It's a literal leveling up, and a lot of us drop out early in the game. I'm going on my third decade in life now and I can honestly say I'm glad to still be here, which wasn't something I necessarily expected to be able to say at some of the harder stages of my life. It hasn't always been easy, and there will be many challenges yet to come in the road ahead, but if we can confront them with gratitude and wisdom gleaned from time passed, we're on the right path. 

Of course, if you'd like to see more bent metal, there are more photos below...

Vegas: Driving around old Boulder Highway

Driving in the city of Las Vegas is relatively easy, for the most part. There are a few weird places in the city where seemingly perpendicular streets decide to cross, like at the intersection of Sunset and Sunset, but beyond the anomalies defying the laws of space and time, there's only a handful of complaints I could logistically lodge against the city with much merit. Compared to my brief experience with driving in the Pacific Northwest (I drove from Seattle back to Vegas in 2014) Las Vegas is blessedly straightforward and fairly affordable city for driving in, to boot. I mean, compared to gas prices in some states we're getting shafted, but when you consider the largely abundant (and primarily free) parking it's not too shabby.  We even get some streets with cool names, like Admiral Ackbar way. Insurance rates aren't in the top or last 10th in either direction, so it's not the most expensive or least expensive place to be a driver... The worst things you'll likely have to contend with, as far as driving in Vegas goes, for the time being, is traffic cones and the heat. 

The occasional crack head running out in front of you or vehicular breakdown is likely to pop up, too, especially if you spend any large amount of time driving in the city. The heat out here is absolutely brutal on vehicles! I've owned two vehicles in my life thus far and they've both suffered immense amounts of mechanical stress due to the routinely 110+ degree summers we deal with. I've replaced (or at least paid for the replacement of) several radiators, water pumps, thermostats, and other associated mechanical parts intrinsic to the operation of the automobile at ideal temperatures. It's unavoidable. The last few years with my Volvo has seen countless hoses bursting and spewing violently green coolant upon our roads, even in front of Mandalay Bay the night of a concert... the van, too, has made a steam-spewing demonstration of its disdain for the weather here at least once upon a hot and inconveniently timed day drive. Driving in the city of Las Vegas will be hard on your car in the summer, but the tradeoff is that our dry weather prevents excessive rusting, so you'll encounter lots of classic rods rolling through.

My engine blew up on the way to see Panic! At the Disco tonight, I'm so devastated!! I've wanted to see them for years and years and now who knows when I'll get the chance to see @brendonurie perform :((( I was looking forward to this for MONTHS! Tonight we are NOT victorious. 😳 I'm so heartbroken. @panicatthedisco

A post shared by Jessthulhu (@shethatisnau) on Mar 24, 2017 at 8:15pm PDT

I don't always pose seductively against my car, but when I do it's because I'm pushing her after missing the @panicatthedisco show in Vegas because the old girl broke down.

A post shared by Jessthulhu (@shethatisnau) on Apr 3, 2017 at 11:17am PDT