Cars

As I mentioned yesterday, the Aztek wouldn't start.  It still won't start.  This is not okay, since it is our family car--the only one we will all fit in at once.  We can't really try to go without it for very long.  

So, today our Aztek was towed out of our garage and all the way into Bloomington.  (21 miles according to Google Maps.)  We are grateful for good auto insurance through State Farm, and our agent Maggi Pratt...we know at least part of the towing costs will be covered.

It was an unfortunate thing that the car was in the garage, with not much clearance overhead and on one side...a special kind of jack had to be used.  (In fact, Jeremy took off work because the towing service told us it would take 2 strong men to do it, and we saved $50 by Jeremy volunteering to be the second guy.  The towing guy arrived early and ended up not needing Jeremy, as the car moved more easily than he expected though, thankfully.)

I'll admit, it doesn't feel good to see your car going down the road behind a tow truck!

Another benefit from State Farm (Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if this is an employee benefit or a benefit of being insured by them?) is that we get a great discount on car rental!  So, Jeremy rented a car for the next 4 days so we can get around over the holiday weekend.  However, we had to pick it up after the kids were home from school...That meant all 5 of us cramming into the "Sweet ZX2"--a feat we had never before attempted! 

 Jeremy and Annah were in front...

...and the rest of us were quite "cozy" in the back!

We are blessed that both of our cars are paid for, so we have no loan or regular car payment on them.  Jeremy bought his car new in the spring of 1998, right after he graduated and started working for State Farm.  It now has over 200,000 miles, no air conditioning, no cruise control, no functioning parking brake, and is loud!  But, we are glad it's still running, and pray it will last another year.  

The Aztek we bought new in 2002 when we were pregnant with Sylvia, and it is at about 185,000 miles itself.  It has been a great car, with several costly repairs, but we need it to last a lot longer!

So, as we drive our rented Chevy Malibu around this weekend, we will consider the potential it has (or doesn't have) for the next Lopshire family car.  And, we will continue to pray the fix for the Aztek doesn't cost us an arm and a leg that we don't have.