Tag: Ford

My Car is In the Shop

~ Leslie Lanagan ~ Leave a comment

I didn’t go on my morning coffee run to Dunkin because I dropped my car off for service. Something is wrong with the EVAP sensor, and it is the damndest thing… My air intake hose is missing. I think it must have been stolen off of my car, because Ford would have noticed it if it had been missing when they changed the oil. The only way that is possible is if I left it unlocked, and I might’ve. Who knows? I am still getting to know the car and could have spaced it. All I know is that I have never popped the hood and removed anything myself.

It’s crazy how fast I have become attached to driving, as if riding the bus doesn’t enter my thought process anymore. I will have to arrange a ride to my Cognitive Behavioral Health group if I do not get my car back by Wednesday, because I cannot call Metro for transportation day of- I must call or register online the day before.

If I get my car back tonight or in the morning, I’m driving out to see Tiina in Stafford because she has the day off work. We had such a good time in Baltimore that I’m eager to see her and her “progeny in tow.” I will be really disappointed if I don’t get to go, but I want my car to be safe for me, as well.

I am practically itching because the shop opens in four minutes. Surely I will have a better idea of how long they’ll have it by sometime today. I need my Apple CarPlay. 🙂

I cannot be trusted to drive without it, because Apple Maps is so handy. I have Waze, too, but Apple Maps works with my watch, alerting me by touch and voice when it’s time to turn. And, in Baltimore, I rarely know where I am going. I have lived here long enough to see the map, not explore it. Plus, right now I’m on my own time and can drive when traffic is least. I prefer it, and also I’ve set my GPS to no toll roads. That means I have driven on a lot of two-lane highways that are relaxing and windy, so much preferable to a straight line with trees on both sides the whole way.

I got to go through some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen, and because it was raining or threatening to rain the whole weekend, it was not the time to get out with my camera. I didn’t have warm enough clothes to get wet. I should have brought my waterproof pants, but I forgot I even had them. #facepalm

When it’s cold and rainy, I like to wear lined waterproof pants. When the winter really sets in, I add a pair of leggings and wool socks under them. I also wear two or three layers on top, so that most of the time I’m good in a hoodie/rugby jacket with a vest over it. If it jumps down to really cold and I’m going to be outside for an extended period, I have hiking boots and a peacoat.

My hiking boots will be almost too warm with wool socks, but good prep is essential for bad weather.

My car absolutely died from a loose connection on the battery. I was at least wearing a warm fleece and sweat pants, but if it had been any colder I would have been screwed. The car can only help you so much when the heater doesn’t work. Luckily, there was just enough power that after about half an hour, it started again. I took it to AutoZone, where I had the battery checked. They fixed the loose connection and made sure it didn’t need replacing. Luckily, it was just the connection.

Ok, Kara just called and I have a Thursday appointment to get everything done that’s critical, but neither job is too expensive. I just need to wait until they get the part in stock, which will take two days. I was going to do the job myself, but there were so many different versions on Amazon that I had no idea which one I needed, and neither did the guy at AutoZone.

I’m stuck here until at least Thursday, because the part I need doesn’t come in until then. They told me I needed to keep the car there, because they could give it to me and a rock could come through that air gap and cause $5,000′ worth of damage.

No, thank you.

So, I tried to chase down a rent car so I could still go to Tiina’s tomorrow, but no dice. I went to two Enterprise locations, and neither one of them had cars. I just gave up and came home. There’s plenty of stuff to do around here.

Right now, that aim is to talk to you so I don’t melt down and burn out. This is really stressful because I’ve gotten into a routine since my car arrived, and now it’s all in disarray. For instance, I didn’t go get my coffee this morning. I didn’t leave the house until Kara told me she had a rental car reservation for me, and she told me the wrong location. So, I went to the right location and they still didn’t have cars.

Life seems a bit smaller, but I can walk to the gym. I haven’t done that this week, and it would be absolutely grueling and fun at the same time. I can get my mind off things.

But again, I am flabbergasted at how fast this disorienting feeling came on.

I’m oriented towards doing the same thing every day. Because of my ADHD, sometimes I will get a wild hair to do something. Not often. Most of the time, I most resemble Bert from Sesame Street. I am very happy with my pigeon and bottle cap collection.

Hrmph.

I don’t mean to seem like a grump. I just do. But I am not, in fact, a grump. I just get introverted and set in my ways. I’ve lived alone for so long that I might be feral.

Driving has definitely put me in a better mood because my adrenaline is higher during even short trips. But I live for longer ones. Opening my car up on the highway gives me great pleasure, because I can set the Adaptive Cruise control and the car will slow itself if the traffic slows down, and speed up to my setting automatically without having to hit any buttons.

I keep talking about my car because I’m so excited to have it. Pride of ownership goes a long way.

Unless my car is in the shop.

Driving Ambition

~ Leslie Lanagan ~ Leave a comment

I recently bought a used car. It’s a 2019 Ford Fusion SEL, a sedan with the aggressive styling of the Mustang in gunmetal gray. I cannot tell you how nice it is to be mobile again, because what was tripping me up about leaving the house was having to be in public from the moment I walk out my front door until I get to my destination. There is a feeling I need to be “on,” and whether or not that’s true I’m in prime social masking territory waiting for the bus.

In the car, I do not have to worry about being charming. My eyes can be half closed in the line at Starbucks just like everyone else. It’s those little bursts of sensory deprivation that give me the energy to make it through the day.

I have had many dreams of my beautiful girl learning to scare me in it. Which one? Take your pick. They are all beautifully scary drivers. That’s how I roll. Drive like a grandma in my own car, but enjoy the criminality of others whenever possible.

I drive so slow that people routinely go around me. I can’t help it. It’s my new car and I don’t want to get into trouble with tickets or accidents. I don’t mind being passed. I’d rather give someone room to get around me and let them go on their merry way. Some drivers have gotten way too close for comfort and I can only surmise that they do not have lane assist on their cars like I do.

Lane assist, the backup camera, blind spot assist, and adaptive cruise control allow me to overcome my original problem when I got my license…. Lack of stereopsis. Not being able to see in 3D made cars jump out of nowhere.

After being absolutely blinded by the sun this morning, I’m ready to go back to Oregon. Evan’s a realtor. I’ll just leave tomorrow and figure it out on the road (KIDDING). I actually love the sunshine, but the gray has its benefits. You are rarely, if ever, blinded on Portland roads. You can’t even see the sun 280 days a year.

These drives of mine are bringing up drives past, when I just loaded up my truck, Shirley, and hit the open road. We’d drive out the Columbia River Gorge and go hiking…. Well, the truck was terrible at hiking even in four wheel drive mode, so I left Shirley in the parking lot. You know what I mean. I took my camera and stopped every 50 feet to take pictures of flora and fauna alike.

It’s what I’m hoping to do on Sunday, when I travel out to my friend Tiina’s farm. I was sick this past Sunday, so we rescheduled. I’m so excited that I don’t have to miss out on a great road trip, and lots of photography of Virginia.

I used to live in Alexandria, so I always feel like going to Virginia is going home. I hope to bring out some of that emotion in my pictures so that you can tell how much I miss it. And who knows, maybe I’ll end up in Virginia again someday. It would be a pleasure to claim 703 for the first time since I was 24.

Right now, though, I have a more immediate need- driving around to find a place to live quickly. A move to Virginia could indeed happen fast, but I want to think about it first. I have memories in Alexandria that are not altogether pleasant, and I’d like some time for them to fade. But what I will love is driving by my old house, which faces the freeway, on the way to Tiina’s. I think…. Hard to tell which route I’ll take on a Sunday afternoon with the least amount of traffic all week.

I am feeling my inertia start to rise because I have another place that is totally my own. I am capable of more than I have been, but I don’t know how much. I have a driving ambition to find out, because I am letting go of things not meant for me.

I’m excited that Aada just said “for now,” because I know she chooses her words carefully. She would not leave me with hope if she did not mean it. We need time to settle, to breathe, and for me to feel the wind in my hair as all my troubles fly out the passenger side. Believe me when I say that her passenger has just as many issues, enough for both cars.

Rolling down the windows and turning up the stereo is how I’m going to survive all of this, just like when I met her and found out, gasp, she was straight. It doesn’t bother me now, but it bothered me a great deal back then. It’s not that I thought anything would happen, it’s that you can’t control who turns your head and it was an ordeal to turn back.

In a lot of ways, my head will never be on straight because the driving ambition in my life is to find a way to make myself so proud that I start attracting energy to me rather than feeling like I need to give it away. That leaves me a lot of room to dream into the clouds and not a lot of time on the ground with execution. AI is making all of that easier, with abstract ideas being concrete plans in a matter of minutes.

Stop.

I wanted this entry to be all about my car, and my mind leaned toward Aada again. I’m calling myself out and changing the channel, because even though the thought is not intrusive, now is not the time to indulge it. I’m supposed to be resting and relaxing. Dr. Aada’s orders, and Dr. Leslie’s back to her.

Why do I feel myself shutting down for calling myself out? Because I don’t like authority, even mine. I have a driving ambition to be more than I thought I could be because I have the stories of several women flowing through my veins that are tougher motherfuckers than me.

:::pats self on back:::

One of them is even a very famous Instagram influencer and so cute I walked into a door at Chuy’s trying not to notice. I hurt my nose.

This is me once again trying to recapture what it is like for reading “Stories” to again be the highlight of Aada’s day, because she apologized that she would not be reading…. And her resolve was secure, she hadn’t read since Friday.

My heart might have melted at that.

She stayed with me and read everything I had to say until Friday? That means she read the letter Bob wrote mirroring her, which was actually perfect in its tone except for the lack of profanity. She thought I was raking her over the coals and trying to exact a price when I thought I was writing the good, the bad, and the ugly.

That there is more to my story than the things that went wrong, and now I know what they are. I am responsible for all of it, and the price I paid is large. I have learned from my mistakes, and need to make amends.

My saving grace is that Supergrover (Aada) sees my pain. Honors it. Acknowledges it. Has come to me in a way that few people do, heart in hand.

It reinforces the fact that she’s been my driving ambition since long before I bought a car. The relief of seeing her name in my inbox and the story she told me brought tears as I coped with the loss I’d felt since December. She brought it all back, but because she leveled with me, she did not hurt me. I have not lost progress to our conversation, except that my thought processes regarding her have calmed.

I’m not as anxious as I was. I won’t be from here on out. Aada’s and my ages have a lot to do with it. I’m slowing down and I need Aada to slow down with me. It’s time. We’re both ready for some space and she has given it to me by allowing me to write whatever I want. She is not going to read it. So anyone who thinks she needs to know something, write it down. She doesn’t want to know.

She doesn’t want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly because all she takes home is the bad and the ugly. She said yesterday that compliments were like puzzles, which only puzzled me. When you get mad at your spouse or your sibling, does that one fight eliminate all the love you have for them? Well, that’s how I feel about Aada. She is cute, cuddly, and in monster mode will eat off your face. Twice.

I have it on good authority that she doesn’t mind being monstrous.

The “for now” aspect of her e-mail convinces me that this is not the end of our movie. That all I need to do is accept more of the universe into my writing so that she’s not so extremely loud and incredibly close. But if you were traveling with The Doctor, wouldn’t you rather write about them than anyone else?

As with all companions, living with The Doctor on the TARDIS has to come to an end. I feel that this is just Aada dropping me back off in 2025. But there’s always the specials, so perhaps the blue box will appear in the sky when I least expect it.

I can at least give chase in my magnificent used car.

What is it about Aada that makes her so special? I can’t tell you that. I’m not being flip. I really don’t know why she has captured my imagination so completely. But it was there before we ever talked about her career.

You know. At the car wash. I hope they’re breaking even.

Grace and peace, Godspeed to you. I’ll see you in my dreams, when we race to Coos Bay. I’ll even give you a head start if you’re in the pregnant roller skate.

A Sedan?!

~ Leslie Lanagan ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I know I said over and over that I wanted an SUV. And that may be the case down the road. But when you’re buying cars for cash you take the best deal you can get.

As someone without 3D vision, the technology on the car was very important to me. The car will let me know when I’m too close to something and is already equipped with a backup camera. I want to make sure that my comfort doesn’t come at the cost of anyone else’s.

And my comfort is great- the car’s ride is so smooth it feels like floating down the road. I don’t think there’s anything that little engine couldn’t handle, and it’s big enough to fit a dog. I checked. 🙂

I missed Aaron in Maryland, but he came and picked me up at my sister’s house in Houston so that we could buy a car together. I saw a few that I liked, but none more than the 2019 Ford Fusion.

In short, I did not get on the plane. I am going on this road trip to find myself, and to give “Stories” a different flavor than it’s had for the past 12 years, which has been mostly sitting in my room and doing nothing. And in fact today I’m thinking about how to infuse this entry with Hill Country Sunshine.

The dealership told me that I could pay for the car with a personal check, but I could not drive it until the check cleared and the money was in their hands. Fair enough. That gave me time to buy a decent insurance policy so that if someone hits me coming out of the lot, I’m not losing the car already.

I am sitting on my hands waiting to go pick it up, because the test drive was just long enough to realize it was a good deal.

It wasn’t long enough to satisfy my craving to drive. It’s been a long time, and simple things like running to the grocery store mean a lot. I’m grateful for my car because I went so long without one.

But truthfully, technology had to come a long way before I could afford something that would protect me. The Fusion will have less blind spots because of the sensors and cameras. These are the kinds of things that have existed for a long time, but were not nearly cheap enough for me to afford until now.

In effect, the fusion is between the car and me, because it shares the responsibility of driving with me more than I’d get with an older vehicle. I’m excited to find out how much driving has changed since I had my last car.

Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death, and this year, her gift to me is significant. I could not have bought the car without her working so hard and leaving money behind. She is making my life easier one day at a time with this gift, and I hope to use it to make her proud of me.

I want to tell stories about the road and how it rises to meet me. I need to remember that phones have cameras now…. a photo gallery for you wouldn’t kill me…. 😉 What kind of content I create now that I’ve got a different mojo will reveal itself over time.

First, though, it’s the little things. I’d like a 🦀 bumper sticker that looks like a Maryland flag. It will be the last thing I buy for my car at the end of the trip.

Right now, I know I need a USB-A to Lightning cable so that I can connect to Apple CarPlay.

We are starting and ending with simple things.

It’s the Running Aarons Tour 2025.