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Okay, if you read the title, you pretty much have the story. Nuff said, right? But,hey this is UltraMom talking and UltraMom never makes a short story short. So settle down to listen to the long, wordy tale of a search; a quest if you will: for the car of my dreams.
Chapter 1: UltraMom drives big old junky cars that are always breaking down. Shoot. Again, I gave the whole story away in the title. I’m going to have to stop doing that. My question to my mechanic has lately been: which of these two cars (the ’94 Ford Taurus or the ’95 Chrysler Concord) will cause me the least amount of expensive repairs in the near future. He hemmed and hawed and issued disclaimers before selecting the Taurus. The Taurus proved its worth by breaking down on us in Pocatello when we were pickup shopping for UltraDad, and refusing to start when UltraMom, ignoring the wolf-crying warning clangs, left the lights on all day. It seems that, in this case, the clangings were actually trying to relay an important message (ie, you left your lights on, idiot), but in my defense this car also clangs for no good reason. Now, after several expensive repairs, the Taurus now appears to be running again. I’ve got to admit, that I have been feeling more charitable towards the Concord of late. Although it’s sick, most probably terminal, it’s decline has been more gradual and evident. Her bicep-building, stiff-turning wheel has been with me so long it almost seems natural to have to wrench the steering wheel with brute force to navigate a corner. The deep, grinding noise that sometimes accompanies the operation of the air conditioner is telling me the compressor is slowly going out. I can almost hear the old girl saying “You know, I’ve been around a while. I’ll do my best to take you where you want to go, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. Just letting you know..” I appreciate the warning. Take lessons, traitorous Taurus.
Chapter 2: UltraDad now has a ‘new’ pickup, so it’s UltraMom’s turn. We decide to trade in the Concord. Actually, I wish we could have traded them both. UltraMom has been doing some research. For a long time, the Toyota Camry has been my pie-in-the sky dream car, but I never thought I’d actually own one. Now is seems that I actually might. Jimbo suggests I also consider the Honda Accord. I do, and like what I see. Only drawback is that both cars are very popular and priced accordingly. I pick up Auto Seller papers from Twin Falls, Jim gets ones from Idaho Falls, and we also look online. Prices is Idaho are much lower than in this area of Nevada. I call a few dealerships with mixed results.
Chapter 3: UltraMom and Dad go car shopping. We drive separate vehicles to Idaho; UltraMom drives the old Concord. UltraDad, who may wish to stay a few extra days, drives his pickup. We will be staying in Howe at Chuck and Joy’s and Jimbo has promised to accompany us on our car-shopping journey. UltraDad, who is several hours ahead of UMom, scouts out a few cars in Twin Falls, which we test drive. We really like the forest green Accord, but decide to check out what Idaho Falls has to offer before making a decision. UltraDad does not like the Camry at all. He feels cramped and uncomfortable..
Saturday finds the three of us driving about Idaho Falls from one dealership to another scouting out cars. Some salesmen just tell us they don’t have any Camrys or Accords and send us packing. The more enterprising ones try to sell us something else. At Smiley’s, where we bought UDad’s pickup, UltraMom test drives a luxurious Audi. At the conclusion of the test drive, Jimbo suggests that UltraMom may wish to let him drive from now on so she can devote her full attention to the gadgets. He jokes that her driving has frightened the saleswoman sitting white-faced in the backseat. Ha, ha. At the Subaru place, hearing the salesman extol the virtues of the Legacy, UltraMom decides she likes the Subaru. It is all wheel drive, after all, and, according to Mark, or Bob, or whatever his name was, has the least expensive maintenance and repair costs of any car out there. We may be back.
On down the road, we stop into a smallish place called “Auto Express.” They have two Honda Accords. The first one is like many others we have looked at. The second is a 2002 luxury model. Leather seats, rear spoiler, power seats, moonroof, radio with casette and 6-CD changer. The color is silver and it drives like a dream. I think I’m in love. The Subaru Legacy, with all its practicality, fades into oblivion. But when Jimbo tries to wheel and deal, he doesn’t get far. It seems that this place has already set the price about as low as they can go. There are a few little things that need fixing, but we are assured they can be done by Monday morning. Also, Scott is willing to throw in a 90-day mechanical warranty and give us $600 trade-in for the Concord. We’ll have to think about it.
This story has a happy ending. Silver Girl now sits in my driveway, getting at last figuring, over 27 mpg. I only hope she can live up to my expectations, which are reasonable. I only want her to keep running, like she does right now, for the rest of my natural life. In return, I promise regular lube & oils. Seems like a fair deal to me.
UltraMom

Sail on Silver Girl….

Isn’t she a beauty?

Brief update on UltraMom the student.
Last week, while registering for classes, I spent several hours just walking around this small, pretty campus right in the middle of the town of Elko, soaking up the atmosphere and anticipating being, after a 30 year hiatus, a college student once again. It’s called Great Basin College, as I believe we are geographically in the “Great Basin.” The college is centered around an outdoor amphitheater, which in turn is surrounded by relaxing landscaping including a flowing stream. My one oncampus class, Political Science, is at the other end of campus in the Technology Building. Here are classrooms with the capability to include multiple sites in classroom instruction. There are two Television screens at the front of the room. Once can show video clips and tapes the instructor brings in; the other shows the students at the remote sites. In Eureka, I suspect the lone student is still in high school. I base this conclusion, not only on her youthful looks, but also on the fact that she was wearing a cheer leading costume last Thursday.
The Professor seems to know his stuff, and this class has the capability to be interesting. Politics-authority and power, or ‘Who gets what when and how.” Also will be studying Nevada’s constitution. We watched a movie yesterday on Nevada’s history, which was interesting for me, not being a native. Mining, trapping, and agriculture were start up industries, but of course Prizefight Boxing and Gambling brought Nevada and more specifically Las Vegas and Reno the prosperity they enjoy today.
But some things have changed since last I sat in a college classroom, most notably “the internet.” There are several online components to this class, including required posting of essays on a ‘bulletin board” and online testing. This will take a little getting used to.
My Music Class is entirely online. I thought this class would be an easy Fine Arts Credit, but I’m rapidly changing my mind. I can read a little music, play a little piano and violin. What else is there to know? A lot, apparently. The text book is dry and (to me) cumbersome and difficult to understand. But the most challenging part so far has been trying to view class lectures on my Mac computer. The first time, I appealed to my UltraWiz, UltraSon for help. “How can I view these exe. Files on my computer, Honey?” “You can’t.” was the reply. Helpfully, UltraBob took my files, converted them into a type I COULD view and sent them back to me. “I’ll write a note to your teacher telling him how he should be doing this,’ he told me. Thanks, Dad.
Meanwhile, the instructor tells me, that though time consuming, he will convert all lectures into Mac files. Problem solved, right? The next lecture I tried to view opened in a program called Xcode and opens in a text file of incomprehensible symbols. Sigh.
And meanwhile, my PC is fried, which we all knew would happen. So I guess its off to the computer lab with me, if I ever find the time.
Of course, lots else is going on. I’m still working at the prison, doing weightwatchers one or two times a week and trying to keep UltraDad fed and on a more or less even keel.
He is enjoying his ‘new’ pickup and this weekend it will be my turn to get a ‘new’ ride. I’m thinking Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, if I can afford it. Any other ideas on reliable, comparable vehicles? I’ll keep you posted on my search.
Last weekend, we brought the old, ‘76 pickup out to the Lear Ranch for UltraDad’s sister and bro-in-law to use for irrigating, feeding cows, etc. The Lear Ranch is about a 3 hour drive away, and we brought the ‘boys’ (the 4-legged ones) along for the excursion. We ended up taking a drive into McDermott Canyon, which is lovely with McDermott creek running through it. We scouted for arrowheads or at least obsidian that showed signs of being worked on by long ago ‘Native Americans.” UltraDad found a couple of broken ones, Sis Kathy found several as well. UltraMom found some pretty rocks. It was late when we got back to the ranch, so though not planned, we spent the night. Sis Kathy raises ‘MinPins” and has 14 of her own. She has a website, I think its “Nevada MinPins” and knows her subject through and through, including variations on cropped ears and tails as well as the numerous colors variants. The mutts are cute, but I find I prefer my fuzzy little poodles.
‘Brief update?” you are now thinking? Hey, this is UltraMom; we all knew the ‘brief’ part wouldn’t really happen, right?

UltraMom