poor poor walter the car

this is my car. this is my car sitting by the side of the road. this is my car sitting by the side of the road where she simply gave up —100 miles from home.

i do not know what it is about that magic number, 100 miles from home, but whenever she has dumped me in the desert, it is usually 100 miles from home. thank heavens for AAA.

and thank heavens we were not on some forsaken dirt road out in the middle of nowhere where AAA will not venture. we were on a paved road to somewhere this time. we were on our way to photograph cowboys.

walter has dumped me in the middle of the desert several times before — i am rather tired of it. she has more than 160,000 miles on her. she had a new engine last year. a new lifter this spring and now what sounds like a timing chain issue.

by the way — remember that little column i wrote about what to keep in your car just in case you get stuck somewhere? well, i forgot to take my own advice. i had water, i always have water, but i had forgotten to make sure i had snacks in the car. i had not eaten before starting out on my little trip, so while waiting more than two hours for AAA i was a bit hungry. searching through all the bags and boxes in walter’s cargo area, i finally turned up a very old granola bar. it tasted very good.

it might be time for a lifestyle change for me. we may have to give up 4-wheeling and go for a new little putt-putt car.

P.S. yes, it was indeed a timing mechanism issue. too expensive to fix so now walter-the-car is up for sale. to a good home only, please. preferably to someone who knows how to work on cars and can turn her into a fun off-road vehicle. she would like that.

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