The Beginning of the End and a Battle of Goals

Hello, friends! 

Sorry for not posting in a while.  Keeping this blog has given me a whole new respect for professional bloggers.  How they manage to make every deadline while still writing about things that are at least semi-relevant is a mystery to me.  Anyway, I have a story to tell you. 

Last week, on my way to Columbia, The Rolla starting making noises... and shaking... and sputtering.  Thankfully, I was near a major-ish town so I was able to pull over and call AAA for a tow.  With Premium Membership, or whatever it's called, I get a tow of 100 miles without charge, which is great since I was about 65 miles from Columbia. 

First, I have to tell you about my tow truck driver.  Ronnie is a really nice and really personable guy.  Apparently we don't agree on anything but that's ok.  It was still nice to have some conversation while on my way to CoMO, which is not usually the case. 

I make it to my mechanic's place and I tell them what is happening.  I'm told that they'll check it out and they should know in a few hours.  When I get the call, It's not bad but it's not good. 

Apparently, I need a tune-up pretty badly.  There are a bunch of different things that go into a tune-up, including the spark plugs, some wiring, a cap of some sort, and a few other things that sound expensive.  Also, I had been putting off a repair for a while and it had gotten worse to the point that it was a safety hazard.  The total damage, if I got everything fixed, was going to run about $800, or, 75% of the value of the car. 

This is whare I call Meg and we have a decision to make.  We have been considering going to 1 car when we move but it's too early to do that now.  At the same time, the car probably isn't worth $800 worth of repairs.  What do we do? 

Here's what we decided: Let's not get the full tune-up but get everything done that absolutely has to be done ($500).  Then, we'll wait it out, hope the Rolla lasts a few more months, and get a new car at some point when we are in Columbia. 

Now, this is where things get interesting.  Right now the Rolla has 285,000 miles on it.  My goal from the beginning has been to get it to 300k and then let it ride off into the sunset.  Right now that goal is in jeopardy because we may buy a new car before I can drive 15,000 miles. 

Oh, but you know I'm going to try. 

But, the purpose of this blog has been to talk about all the miles that I've SAVED by biking instead of driving.  I still believe in biking as often as possible.  I have two competing goals in hand.  Goal #1 is to finish this blog.  Goal #2 is to get the Rolla to 300k.  I'm really not sure yet of how to reconcile the two but I'm sure going to try! 

So, that's the dilemma.  Imma keep riding but know that driving is way on my priority list too, at least for the next 15,000 miles.  =0). 

Stats:
Distance traveled: 5 miles ($.47)
Meters: 7 hours on campus ($7)

Total: $7.47
Grand Total: $330.23
Left to Save: $252.80

Happy Biking!

~Adam