camry tales

I bought my first Toyota Camry when they debuted in 1984.  It was small and square and ugly but it drove like a dream.  When the timing belt went out and left Lauren and her Daddy stranded we decided to trade it in and I've had one ever since.  Little did I know when I bought that car in 2001 that it would still be driving me around.  It is patched and dented and has a lot of stories to go with it.

Anna and her family took it to Chicago to see a relative and Lauren went with them.  She promptly got the epizootie and totally missed the Chicago experience.  That was the longest trip the old Camry ever took.  One time at a house party somebody backed into it and busted out the tail light cover.  I figured it wouldn't be a big deal and I was busy so it just stayed like that until I got lens tape.  And I still replace that lens tape regularly.  

Then there was the time that Tara, and she was a big old girl, leaned on the window button too hard and the whole damn window fell into the door and busted.  I literally drove with plastic over the window until I could afford to get it fixed.  The motor was out and that had to be replaced too.  Then the front door knobs broke and, of course, I had to get one from the salavage yard and pay Patterson Brothers to install it.  Passenger side still has to be opened from the outside and the plastic part of the handle is broken off.  It's so funny because I forget if I have a passenger I have to let them out.  There's an art to it without that plastic part. 

Some asshat parked right behind me at the chicken store and I have a huge dent where I hit his bumper trying to get out.  Those people park every which'a'way up there.  It's so busy they sort of need traffic control.  

Then there was the infamous car theft at the hospital where the robber left his bicycle where my car was.  He abandoned it at the mall but not before stealing another bicycle and leaving it in the back seat.  When I picked it up from impound I had to go straight to DPD to get rid of the evidence.  Even his hoodie from the hospital video was back there.  The car smelled  like him for months.  When I went to his hearing as a victim, there were five other people there who had been his targets.  Even with all that this guy had the stupidity to disrespect the judge by posturing with his handcuffs on. He got got a verbal lashing like I've never seen in a courtroom.  And.  He's still in jail.

I have hauled many things in that car including straw bales and garbage and everything else.  I can fit three bales in the trunk and one in the back seat!  It's beyond need detailed but that's pretty expensive so I'll just wait 'til it cools off and do it myself.  I need a new(er) car but this engine only has 136K miles on it and the block was replaced at 60K due to the Toyota oil gel settlement thing.  Oh yeah, and it needs a manifold too.

Y'all be grateful if you got wheels to get you where to be ^j^