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A piece of personal history goes away
Jan. 13th, 2011 06:24 pmWe bought the van in 1994. Idea was twofold: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
martes wanted a vehicle she could paint murals on the side of. I wanted something I could drive out to lake Perris and go skydiving over the weekend without having to sleep on the ground. Neither one eventuated - I had already stopped skydiving, and I'm not sure why the mural thing never happened.
For the last 6 years I was in the Army I slept in that van every Tuesday night. This was the night my USAR unit met with all of its reservists and meetings went late into the night - so late it didnt make sense to go home only to drive back by 7 AM the next day.
After the Army era that van took me to the first couple of months of TSA, my follow on job - until we were stable enough to buy another car - the 2002 Saturn we still have today. Then after our other car, the 1994 Saturn, was lost in a crash, I once again used the van as the commuter vehicle it was never supposed to be.
However after two years of commuting to an in-town job with it, the van suffered some serious water leak that put it in a category the US Army called "Beyond Economical Repair". So ultimately it got sold for money used to keep the one surviving vehicle functional.
Our neighbors, and probably several other people on our street - were using its presence in our drive way as a landmark to tell them where to turn to go home. Once in the past when it was in the shop some of them remarked to me that they were turning into the wrong driveways because it wasn't there.
It caused problems as well though. Because of its size when parked on the street it took up the entire space between two houses - and in this neighborhood parking space is at a premium. If I parked it anywhere other than in front of my own house I would get hate mail left on the windshield - one neighbor even vandalized it, and then threatened to assault me if I ever parked in front of his house again. Most of the hate notes left on the van are still in it - a surprise for its new owner when he cleans the thing out.
Sound like Nostalgia? Not really. I have fond memories for pets that I have lost - but this thing was a link to a long string of bad memories. Its gone, fine by me.
I need to call USAA tomorrow and drop it off my insurance.
martes wanted a vehicle she could paint murals on the side of. I wanted something I could drive out to lake Perris and go skydiving over the weekend without having to sleep on the ground. Neither one eventuated - I had already stopped skydiving, and I'm not sure why the mural thing never happened.For the last 6 years I was in the Army I slept in that van every Tuesday night. This was the night my USAR unit met with all of its reservists and meetings went late into the night - so late it didnt make sense to go home only to drive back by 7 AM the next day.
After the Army era that van took me to the first couple of months of TSA, my follow on job - until we were stable enough to buy another car - the 2002 Saturn we still have today. Then after our other car, the 1994 Saturn, was lost in a crash, I once again used the van as the commuter vehicle it was never supposed to be.
However after two years of commuting to an in-town job with it, the van suffered some serious water leak that put it in a category the US Army called "Beyond Economical Repair". So ultimately it got sold for money used to keep the one surviving vehicle functional.
Our neighbors, and probably several other people on our street - were using its presence in our drive way as a landmark to tell them where to turn to go home. Once in the past when it was in the shop some of them remarked to me that they were turning into the wrong driveways because it wasn't there.
It caused problems as well though. Because of its size when parked on the street it took up the entire space between two houses - and in this neighborhood parking space is at a premium. If I parked it anywhere other than in front of my own house I would get hate mail left on the windshield - one neighbor even vandalized it, and then threatened to assault me if I ever parked in front of his house again. Most of the hate notes left on the van are still in it - a surprise for its new owner when he cleans the thing out.
Sound like Nostalgia? Not really. I have fond memories for pets that I have lost - but this thing was a link to a long string of bad memories. Its gone, fine by me.
I need to call USAA tomorrow and drop it off my insurance.
