200,000 Miles

My Chevy Venture minivan turned over to the 200,000 mile mark yesterday. Admittedly, it wasn't very safe around me as I neared this, since I kept alternating my gaze from the road to the odometer. I was a little ways out of the Wal*Mart parking lot at noon, "Love is in the House" by Tobymac was playing on the iPod. I've never had a car this long before. Seven years. The first 200,000 miles in the van saw a whole range of moments in its life, from wonderful to nightmarish. I'm hoping to keep it for another 100,000 miles at least - what the car will see down that long road is anyone's guess. Couldn't be worse, but I've thought that before. Now and then I have to get a small repair, a couple of doors stick, the gas gauge is all messed up so I have to judge when the tank is empty based on the odometer's trip meter, and the rust spots I bondo'd last year are coming back, but I've got no car payment right now, it still gets 23 miles/gallon, insurance is cheap, and I seriously don't want to face the cost of a new one and still swing the post-divorce mortgage for the house looming on the horizon. So I'll hang onto the car, it's been good to me (knock wood), and if it's still running when Amanda gets her license maybe she can have it (much to her expected chagrin).

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