296,000 Latest Stop With Marcus Aurelius
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength
– Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius is what I decided to name my car. No special reason except that I was going to be writing out it. . .him.
On December 7, 2021 Marcus Aurelius rolled past 295,000 miles. Today, January 14, 2022, at 4:51 pm he hit 296,000. That’s 1000 miles in 38 days, or a little more than 26 miles per day.
In the week from December 2 through December 7 I drove about 1200 miles. A trip to Boise and back. An average of 170 miles per day. It’s been an eventful 38 days. Not only did the holidays fall in that period. But, so did a 10 day quarantine for a COVID positive test.
Today, as I watched Marcus Aurelius roll to 296,000, I was driving on Bluffdale Blvd, past the Utah State prison and actually only two miles from where we rolled through 295,000 a month earlier.
During the past month, prior to the COVID lockdown, we had a day where we got over 8″ of snow. My neighborhood was snowy, but the plows had been through. I made it to the freeway and eventually on to work. . .where our parking lot was not plowed. I followed the tracks of a truck and managed to drift into a parking spot.
My boss was surprised to see me. Well, me and Marcus Aurelius, a 1994 Toyota Corolla. The plow came through about 2:00pm. Not sure where I would have gone if they hadn’t decided to do our parking lot that day.
Marcus Aurelius is headed for 300,000 miles. He’s old and lacks most modern features (manual transmission, manual windows, locks, seats.)
I expect we’ll roll past the 300,000 sometime in April or May.
Stay tuned.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Pre-order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
such a familiar User Interface, very much like my 1993 Integra that lasted me until Dec 2018 and had past 500,000 KM that summer. Not doing my own work, I had to give her up (never named her) once the gas lines through the body were leaking, and enough other issues pending, it was just time. ahh memories.
I try to tell my kids, “Keep oil in them and they will run forever.” My youngest son has driven three cars into the ground over the past year. He’s now on the bus. . .pretty sure they keep oil in those.