297,000 Travels With An Old Roman
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
– Marcus Aurelius
My Marcus Aurelius is old, but not 2000 years old. (Actually, 1900 years exactly since Marcus Aurelius was born March 17, 122 AD.) My Marcus was manufactured 28 years ago in 1994. And, rather than a Roman Emperor, my version is a crappy looking Toyota Corolla. But, my Marcus Aurelius has gone farther, MUCH farther than the Roman emperor ever travelled.
Yesterday, Marcus Aurelius, passed through 297,000 miles. I’m documenting the journey on our way to 300K.
Yesterday’s milestone was hit while in South Jordan, Utah on Jordan River Parkway. I was off to get some lunch.
Marcus crossed the 296,000 mark (documented here) on January 13, 26 days ago. (These post the day after, so just trust me on the math.) We started this story when he crossed 295,000 here.)
That’s 38.5 miles per day.
Not surprisingly, I live about 20 miles from work. I commute 5 days per week. And I don’t drive much on the weekends.
In the last 1000 miles, I’ve changed the oil and done a little more work on the terrible growl that Marcus Aurelius has. You would think a throaty growl would make my little four cylinder car sound big and impressive. It doesn’t. My coworkers are starting to notice when I arrive at work just by the sound.
So, is that the muffler going out, Rodney?
No, it’s actually the flex pipe. I had a manifold gasket leak but I fixed that.
The flex pipe is part of the exhaust system. You need a welder to fix it. I hate paying a mechanic to work on my car. That’s what I bought a bunch of tools for. I would imagine that Marcus will have his gravelly voice until Spring when the weather warms up and when he hits the big 300000.
My car, for being as old as it is, gets remarkably good gas milage. I get about 30 MPG on a regular basis.
Marcus is also a pretty no frills car.
– Manual transmission
– Manual windows
– Manual locks
– Aftermarket radio with no CD or cassette player
And I find that it suits me perfectly.
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. 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
