I actually have a long list of blog posts just waiting to be written, but I have never felt busier than I have this summer. However, I feel like I've completely neglected you at this point, so for fun, I'm re-posting another old submission from my previous blog. This is one of my favorite memories, which I was reminded of earlier this week while renewing Cliff's car tags online. A great thing about moving back to my small town: I know all of the mechanics at the inspection sites, so... well, I won't say exactly how easy it is to get an inspection, at the risk of some of them losing their licenses for the fourth or fifth time, but just trust me, it's a lot different that when I got my Jeep inspected in Kansas City which included making an actual appointment, requiring me to actually bring my vehicle to the mechanic's shop, having to test some things like the lights and horn, and thinking he had me down for the wrong type of appointment when he took my wheel off and looked at my brakes.
The Alero was the car I had my eye set on from day one of car shopping. I looked and test drove and researched others, but I never strayed from my goal of getting that car. And I wanted black with tan interior. And I wanted a sun roof. And I wanted a spoiler. And I wanted the top of the line GLS model with the Sun & Sound Package, but thought I would settle for the mid-line GL version. When I ended up being able to get the GLS with Sun & Sound, I thought I would never stop driving.
So, being so in love with my car, I took great care of it. I cleaned, vacuumed and washed it at least once a week for the entire time I owned it. I got the oil changed every 3,000 miles. I did all the suggested maintenance at all the suggested times. And, as with all my vehicles, I kept the tags current.
One year, when it came time for my tag renewal, I went home to have the inspection completed. Now, you know I'm from a small town, but you may not know exactly how all the small town stuff works. Car inspections are a good example of the way things are in a town with less than 2,000 people. Anything passes inspection. You can tow your headlight-less, brake-less, horn-less automobile into the inspection station and they will probably pass it. Or, you can do like my dad did for years and just call them (never even bringing your car to the actual inspection site) and they will pass it. But, I followed the rules, and actually took my Alero into the shop for the inspection.
The inspection game was new to me, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. My brother went with me to help out. We went into the shop and the mechanic followed us back out to the car to actually run a few tests. I turned on my blinkers, stepped on the brakes, honked my horn, and that was the extent of it.
The three of us went back inside to complete the paperwork so Jake and I could be on our way. As I was giving the mechanic my paperwork, he started telling us how he had actually been struck by lightning, and survived.
Not once, but twice.
He went on to tell us how he seemed to be just fine physically, but since the second strike, he really had trouble with mixing up letters and numbers. Now, if I had been struck by lightning twice with a side effect of mixing up numbers and letters, I would not try to talk and tell stories while I was copying down important information like names, addresses, and vehicle identification numbers.
Luckily, when I got to the DMV in Kansasy City, the lady actually believed my story about the lightning strikes and went ahead and gave me my new tags...even though my VIN on the mechanic's paperwork was mixed up and did not match the actual VIN of my car.
And I'm probably the only person to ever say to a DMV employee, "I know you're probably not going to believe this, but the guy that did my inspection has been struck by lightning. Twice..."
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They may have beleived you because its a reoccuring issue.....if he did it on yours, I'm sure its happened before.
I can't believe we drove the same car except mine was white. Of course you kept in way cleaner than mine! You could eat off your floor mats! I don't think I even had floor mats.
Good point, Jake. Did you know who that guy was?
Terri: I can't believe we had the same car either. Some really good times in BOTH of those Aleros.
Funny, I was just telling my co-workers about small town inspections yesterday. About 20 years ago I took my car in for an inspection and when I turned the head lights on, which had a broken bracket, it was shinning in his face - he was only 15 feet away standing up and rather tall. He said, "Holy Sh**, that's a little high! Why don't you grab some of that duct tape and point it down some." I was able to maintain chest level for 5 seconds, so it passed because I was "Larry's boy".
BTW. You know you are getting old when you are telling driving stories that are 20 years old.