ode to the echo.

It's taken me a few days to be able to write this. Remember when I wrote that post about how much I love my car when it reached 100,000 miles and I said how I hope that I'm in the Toyota commercial when we reach 400k together? 

Unfortunately, that won't be happening. My car didn't even make it another 6,000 miles before a neighbor's tree fell on it while Andy and I were away for the weekend, and it's totaled. A random healthy-looking tree, no storm, no wind, no nothing. We were visiting Andy's parents when I received a call from my landlord (who also lives on the property).

It's so hard to write this because I feel like it makes it true. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from this horrible nightmare and i'll just have my car back. 

The Echo served me well for nearly 9 years, from helping me (and several of my cousins) get a driver's license, to carting me (and all of my stuff) all over the place for several summers, to being the best little car with excellent gas mileage that still could comfortably hold 5 people and a trunk full of stuff and still fit in ANY parking space out there (even when both cars on the sides are over their lines). Not sure how Toyota made that possible, but unfortunately they decided to change it up, and the Yaris just isn't the same.

Needless to say I'm devastated (to the point of being irrational) and dreading a new car purchase (not exactly something I need financially right now either).  I wasn't planning on giving the car up any time soon. I know that it could be worse, but it's just an "Act of God" as they call it, and unfortunately I have to foot the bill for now and for the length of a car loan for the next several years. 

I feel it's ironic that my chosen path is to protect nature and the environment. The echo has never been in an accident; however, this is the 2nd "Act of God" to attack it. [freak hail storm back in March 2003 was the first] One friend told me "No good deed goes unpunished." I guess that must be what happened.

Well, for now, I suppose I will just leave you with pictures.

Andy's truck is usually parked to the right of my car. It most likely would have been totaled too.

I had to pull 3 traffic cones, a cooler, knee boots, hiking boots, several bottles for stormwater samples, and crate full of other work equipment out through the backseat.

windshield + wipers out of commission.

So please bear with me if I don't post a lot in the upcoming days/weeks. I was really looking forward to posting about the trip out to visit Andy's parents, but I think it will just have to wait.

i miss you already, my little spaceship.