Made a quick stopover in Santa Cruz to visit mom and pick up snail mail, and also to get the Subes oil changed and tires rotated. As a mechanic friend once told me (Hi, Mitch!), changing the oil is about the most important thing to do for a car’s longevity. Same with rotating tires for extending their life span. And so, I’ve been a pretty regular customer to make it so.
Alas, sometimes they also find other problems. Last visit, the tires were shot. This visit, it was the coolant system needing attention. And you know what? The cost is high, but the money is so worth it to get a job done right and done quickly and done with some sort of guarantee that things will behave afterwards. My Subes is running better than ever and is ready to hit the road again. Now, if they could also fix my stinky laundry problem, and my overflowing trash and recycling problem…. That’s all on me, I guess.
Here, for your consideration, is another option to car ownership:
There are quite a few places in the world where owning a car is not necessary in order to get around. And, my guess is that in those places owning a car is even more expensive than here. Which just makes sense.
Here, I have had the pleasure of traveling about freely in my own personal conveyance device (Subes4Life!), but there have been times when I needed to idle the engine for a while to get a laptop charged up, or to make sure the fridge is cooled down enough, or <insert reason/justification here>. And you know what? Everywhere I go there are people idling engines even more than I do: Sitting in parking lots talking on the phone, running a while to heat up the passenger compartment enough to get a quick nap, letting the engine or generator purr while cooking and cleaning and making hot water. It all adds up. Not just in pollution and global warming, but in robbing time and/or money from the vehicle owner. As the Rush lyrics go, “You can pay the price, but you cannot count the cost.”
We all have choices in this matter. But at least in Europe they have other options to consider.*
Me? I’m sticking with the Subes for now. Still so many nooks and crannies of the West to explore.
It’ll cost me, but the price is worth it.
*And if you get a sleeper car, make sure it’s filled with wacky characters like a stern older lady eating biscuits, and a Caribbean gent whose luggage contains crawfish and sundry island ingredients for his next feast. Oh, and also, make sure at least one important aspect of the cabin is non-functional: window which won’t open (or close), AC on too high (or stuck off when it should be on), beds which collapse in the middle of the night, etc.
Subes for life! 
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