I got some sad news last week, the transmission in my Honda Element is starting to go and the heater is not working that great. To fix all that is wrong is going to run about thirty five hundred dollars, as my truck has over two hundred and fifty thousand miles it doesn’t make sense to keep it.
I am very upset as I love this truck and I have a big emotional connection to it. I did tell myself that I have to relax; it is a machine, and an inanimate object. I did think then, why do I or do people have a connection with their cars?
I’m a car nut and I go to car shows, I buy car magazines, and the Velocity channel is constantly on at my house, but my truck is not a classic car or a collectable.
My Truck though is a big part of my life and with the schedule I run during the week is my other house. In some cases I have been in the truck more than in the house especially a year ago when I left the only place I ever lived, and a twenty five year relationship, that truck was the only sense of normalcy that I had, it also sits in the drive way of the new house which is one of the few connections to the old house that I have, except the rocks I stole, but that’s another story.
This truck was part of a lot of memories as well, road trips, some great gigs, some bad gigs, it was the vehicle I used to chase down a hit and run driver which resulted in the cops making a big drug bust. It was also a place where Joe’s girl and I have had many special times. It has been my partner during December when I have my Santa shows and on many a Christmas Eve when people are home with their families that truck is taking me to them to help make some long time memories to them.
I was in that truck when I had a family crisis last year and for a two hour ride I needed to pray for the tools to try to resolve it while that truck took me to that destination.
Last year that truck was what I was driving when had to go to my sister in laws funeral. I stopped in front of my in laws old house on the way, and while I was stopped, I realized that my in laws are gone, my sister in law is gone and my marriage is gone and this home represented a family who took me in six months after my mother died and made me part of their family for twenty five years, and now it’s all gone.
That truck was by my side that day at the Cemetery when I was talking to my wife and we were telling each other that we tried to save our marriage but its better if we part. I then had to leave my wife at the cemetery and then go meet Joe’s girl, the home inspector, and the real estate agents at the new house for the inspection. That truck was part of that day, the day when my old life and my new life crossed paths, where I said good bye and put closure on my old life and then two hours later was opening the door on my new life and that truck was there to help me cross the bridge from one to the other.
Yes Ellie, that’s her nickname, has been a dependable and loyal vehicle. Finding her successor is not that easy.
Ellie is my second Element and the truck exactly fits my needs. Unfortunately Honda stopped building them in two thousand eleven and any used one is at least seven grand and has at least eighty thousand miles on it. The only truck that would be close to what I want is the Toyota FX-4 which is cool looking, and exactly what I want. The problem is that it’s still in the prototype stage and Toyota has not started building them yet. I saw it at the twenty seventeen auto show and again this year, so what is the wait??
I even told the people at the auto show I would but a deposit down now if they were going to build it.
As for right now Ellie still has some life to her and is chugging along. With the grace of god and a god mechanic she and I are going to get to that three hundred thousand mile marker before she calls it a day.