More like: Remembered. Today, Michaelmus Prime's reign on earth came to an end. Oriah and I had talked about downsizing to the "one-car-family" status for a while now and today it happened.
I've decided I'm going to write two posts about Michaelmus Prime. This post will be about today's farewell experience. A bag of mixed emotions. The next post will be a trip down memory lane reliving the adventures Michaelmus Prime and I shared.
Where to begin... My last two oil changes ended the same way: The service man greets me and informs me that my front ball joints need replaced = $600 repair. Then, about two months ago I noticed that 3rd gear was jamming - or only going into gear half-way. The transmission would also slip out of gear as I would accelerate in 3rd gear on level terrain or as I would crest a hill and start going downhill. Last, the transmission would sometimes grind when I shifted into 4th. All signs of the tranny going out = $3,000 repair.
So here I am sitting on a 16-year old truck that I thought would yield me maybe $1,000 private-party sale, tops, with about $4,000 in repairs. Now, mind you the 10 years Michaelmus Prime and I have romped around the world I've only changed its starter and tires. That's it. So, it made sense that as it neared 190,000 miles the truck would start needing more significant repairs.
Oriah and I started talking about trying to sell the truck. I called a few individuals that had expressed interest in the past. I also emailed a few folks who I thought might be interested who were not local. End result: No reply. I didn't feel like doing the leg work to do a full-on advertising campaign so the options were basically junk it or give it away. I thought charity was the better of the two options. I contacted the National Kidney Foundation of Utah, filled out the online forms then contacted the insurance company to take the truck off our insurance policy. Oriah and I took some pictures and I cleaned out the cabin and gear box. That was last Thursday. Friday I got a call saying the tow truck would come Monday morning. Sure enough, a little after 11:00 this morning Michaelmus Prime rode off into the near noon-day sun.
Pictures and videos:
And just like that it was gone. For good. I felt sad. Tears swelled. That truck has been a part of my life for more than 10 years (10 years 29 days, or 3,681 days, to be exact.) I bought it on Wednesday, July 26, 2000. It had 55,040 miles on it then. Today the odometer read 189,900. 134,860 miles under my belt in just that one truck. Four trips cross-country and all over the Western U.S. Yep, I've been to a lot of places on this great, green world in that thing. Farewell Michaelmus Prime.
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