Goodbye Roo

As many of you know my wonderful parents purchased a truck for me during my sophomore year at Willamette. It was a great rig but once I graduated and got a job that required me to wear a suit, I realized climbing in and out of a muddy truck wasn't exactly a genius move.

Being that I was making money for the first time in my life I decided to upgrade and buy something that still could haul things, have the greatness of four-wheel drive but might also have things like power steering, cruise control, air-conditioning and seating for more than 3.

Into my life came Roo. My father actually found the car. He has a propensity to keep things inside until he knows for sure that he is right. Then he will mutter it under his breath. Things like, "I really don't know why you don't just date that Nicole girl," or in this instance, "you should've made an offer on that white car in the front of the lot." Of course this always happens about two years after he comes to the

realization or later that night at dinner.

There it was, in the first row, my white Subaru. Of course Dad had seen it and let me blast right by. As we sat at dinner I ask him, "what do you mean the white one, which was that?" He goes into all the reasons why the car was right, on year old, 9k all wheel drive with room to haul stuff. I called Carr Subaru and asked if the car was still there. They had loaned it out to a "special" customer. I said it was in their interest to get it back. I test drove it the next morning and bought it.

I ended up moving in with a close friend (and later my best-friends wife). She owned a full-size Subaru Outback and when they were parked in the garage together, we realized it was totally the mom car and the baby car. Not sure who said it first but Kanga became Trica's car and Roo became my car. Not only were the outback connections abounding but the Winnie-the-Pooh reference was genius.

Roo treated me well and through the support of my parents, I was able to keep it through my Boston excursion. Roo went anywhere. I swear I could have four-wheeled with that car and out done some of the rigs on the trails. Snow didn't faze the car either. Even with the nice sporty tires it made it through some precarious situations.

I loaded up Roo in 2008 and drove it out to St. Paul, MN. Roo made it through two winters and a second road trip back and forth to Oregon. In February when we found out about Earl I jumped in Roo and hit the road. We made it to Missoula in record time. Besides hitting some drifted snow in North Dakota and driving sideways for a few minutes, the trip was pretty eventless. I did hear the engine more than normal and was trying to figure out why.

Turns out the piston on one of the cylinders was wearing out. As I was almost across Montana on my way back home she went. Piston Slap as they call it is when the piston starts wear smaller than the cylinder and move horizontally instead of vertically. What I had heard on the way out was the piston wearing and when it finally went, my car lost all power and sounded like I had blown a rod.

The above picture is where I ended up. About 80 miles from the ND border and about 33 miles from Glendive Montana. Glendive turns out to be just that, a dive. About 6000 people, it's a lot better than the middle of North Dakota but not by much. Wouldn't you know it though, God shows up in the strangest places. Three older gentlemen go on a yearly ski trip to Canada. They were hit by a blizzard and cut the trip short, dropping down into Montana earlier than planned. In the storm a semi swiped the front corner of their car and they were stuck in Glendive, towed by the same people who towed me. They left the car to be fixed and headed home. Home, as it turns out was about 10 minutes from me in St. Paul. I was able to drive their van back to Minnesota for them. Coincidence?

After serious discussion and decisions we decided to just sell the car to the really nice autobody who towed me into Glendive. I am sure someone else will get a chance to have some more fun with Roo but I know I will miss it something fierce. I put 105,000 miles on that car personally, which is a lot of time in a car.

While we figure out if we are going to get another vehicle I have been blessed with the Vetsch family who offered me their 1985 Honda 150 Elite Deluxe Scooter. I'm getting 90 miles to the gallon and having a bit of fun too. It's no Roo but it'll do. Now, if I could only hit 66mph I might get the flux capacitor to kick on...

Thanks Earl for the memories and that one last road trip. Everything it seems is going to plan. Not sure if I like the plan but I will continue to accept it and see where it leads.

Blessings -

~soundguy