One Car Couple

As of Friday morning, Shawn and I are officially a one car couple. Remember that minor accident we were in about two weeks ago? If you scroll down a few posts, you can see the pictures of it. Although it wasn't a very hard hit, and it looked like there really wasn't a whole lot of damage, if you look carefully there were actually about 4 or 5 pieces of the car that would need to be replaced. The headlight, the entire front bumper, the side panel, the hood...and maybe one or two other small things. We were given a copy of the estimate, and I noticed that the parts total wasn't that bad...but it was the labor that pushed the total estimate to just about $4000. Since Shawn's 1995 Montero with over 200,000 miles on it isn't worth $4000, the insurance company let us know that they were totalling the car. To his credit, Shawn fought them on it, but I'm sure you can guess how that went.

So yesterday morning, Shawn went and signed his car over to the insurance company. He then took his rental car back to the auto body shop, and I met him there. We got all of our things out of the Montero, and we said goodbye. It was kinda sad.

Before we made any official decision about the car, we had discussed all of our options. We actually could've kept the Montero, but it would've cost us over $2000 out of pocket to fix it, and we decided it just wasn't worth it. We've decided that for now, the money from the insurance company is going into savings. When we chose this apartment, we actually said (as one of its benefits) that if something ever happened to one of our cars, we'd be okay using just one for awhile. So now we'll see if that's true! We do live close enough to Shawn's job that he can easily walk or ride his bike to work. On days that I have sub jobs, that's what he'll do. He'll obviously need the car for rugby practice, so those nights I'll just have to plan on staying home (which is fine...it's what I normally do anyway). Our main worry about having only one car is the fact that the one car we have now is really small. It's a Dodge Neon. Shawn's bike won't fit in it (at least, we doubt it will), so we'll have to figure out how he'll be able to go mountain biking on occasion. And my car can't make it up really steep, rocky terrain, so that might restrict where in the mountains we can go for snowshoeing, hiking, or rock climbing.

But we're going to give the one-car lifestyle a shot. If we decide it's unbearable, we'll figure out then what to do. It's possible that the insurance money is enough to get us another SUV similar to Shawn's...old, with high mileage. But our goal is to set aside "car payments" every month so that hopefully, we can eventually pay cash for a second car (that isn't a mid-90s model). We're very proud of our current low-debt lifestyle, and we'd like to keep it that way awhile longer.

Snow Adventures, part 2

Yesterday, I blogged about our trip to Leavenworth and snowshoeing. We really did have a very good time, but I have to admit...I didn't tell the whole story. Shawn asked me to save the rest of our adventures for another blog post; he wanted his brilliant plowing/parking job to get the credit and attention it deserved. :) So here's the story of the rest of our evening.

After leaving Leavenworth, it got dark pretty quickly, and we noticed it was snowing lightly. It really wasn't snowing very hard at all, but it was enough that when there were two lanes of traffic going in one direction, only the right lane was clear. Although even this kind of snowfall makes me nervous when I drive, it really doesn't bother Shawn at all. He's used to driving in all kinds of weather, and he does have that wonderful, 4WD SUV.

We got up and over Stevens Pass with no problem. Everyone else was driving really slowly, and once we were off the mountain, the roads were actually relatively clear. However, this part of the state has gotten quite a bit of snow over the last few weeks, so there were small banks of snow on the shoulders that had been left by the snow plow. The guy in front of us was driving a Jeep Wrangler. For no apparent reason, just as he was going around a slight curve, the Jeep's right tires went through one of those snow banks. This did not make the car very happy. Shawn and I watched as his Jeep tried to cut through the snow; then his right front tire seemed to get caught in the snow and he came to a very quick stop. The back end of the Jeep slid out to the left so that his Wrangler was sitting sideways in the road.

Shawn basically had two options. Either keep driving straight and try to stop, or try to steer around the guy to the left of his Jeep. Since this part of the road was only two lanes (one in each direction), that would have meant driving into potentially oncoming traffic. We also think the left side of the road had a ditch which eventually dropped off into a river. I agree with Shawn's decision to keep driving straight and trying to stop. Unfortunately...that didn't happen until the right front corner of Shawn's car came into contact with the right front fender of the other guy's Jeep.

Fortunately, none of us was hurt and both cars were still driveable. Since we were more or less in the middle of nowhere (at night, on a 2 lane road, on a curve, in the snow), we decided to keep driving until we got to a town with a McDonald's, where we stopped and Shawn and the other driver exchanged info. Here are the pics of the car that Shawn took in the parking lot.

We're just glad that no one was hurt and that we were able to easily drive Shawn's car back home (instead of having to get it towed). Sadly, we've been informed by the insurance company that it's considered our fault since we didn't stop in time. Bummer.

And So It Begins

As of today, I think it's safe to say that our move has officially begun. A long time ago, Shawn and I decided that we would drive one car out to Seattle, but we'd ship the other car. There are just quite a few things that we need to bring with us but that we can't put on the moving truck (like cleaning supplies, plants, and fish). So this morning, Shawn's car was put onto a transport truck and began its journey to Washington!

It ended up being an interesting story. I was told a couple days ago that the transport truck couldn't make it very far into our town because our roads are too windy. Although I'm pretty sure the truck could've gotten pretty close to our condo, there's no way it would've made it up our road to our building. The original plan was for me to meet the transport truck at the exit from I-70 in one of the large parking lots there. I agreed to do that, although I was wondering how I'd manage to get myself home after I dropped off the car. I could have walked it, but it probably would've taken me at least a couple hours.

Yesterday, I get a call from a woman at the trucking company, saying that there was a problem. They just learned that there is now a state law in Colorado that says that a truck must have chains available (like, in the cab or something) after September 1st to go into the mountains on I-70. We live in the mountains off I-70. The truck was already almost to Denver and had no chains available.

So here's what we did. The truck driver (a nice guy named Nathan) called me when he got to a truck stop just off I-70 (down the hill). I drove Shawn's car down to said truck stop (about 25 minutes away). Nathan got in Shawn's car, and I drove us back up the hill to our apartment building. At that point, I gave Nathan the key, and Nathan drove Shawn's car back down to the truck stop where his truck was waiting. A little strange, but it all worked out. Once the Montero was put on the transport truck, Nathan was going to head back to I-25, where he could head north to Wyoming, and then take I-80 west, thereby avoiding the mountains in Colorado altogether.

I'm just bummed I didn't get any pictures this morning. I had my camera...I just felt embarrassed at the thought of asking the truck driver if I could take pictures of his truck. :) Oh well. Goodbye, Montero!! See you in Washington sometime late next week!

Carrie to the Rescue!

This weekend, I made plans with Jarid and Sarah for today. They were going to come up here around noon, and we were going to spend the afternoon hiking together. Then we'd go get food, and Jarid was going to grill us something good (he's a much better cook than either Sarah or I). While we ate dinner, we were all going to watch the All-Star game together.

I got a call around 11:45. Jarid's car had overheated trying to get "up the hill" on I-70. Carrie to the rescue!! I put on shoes, grabbed my purse, and headed to the store to buy some coolant. I drove down I-70, turned around, and met them on the side of the interstate. Unfortunately...his problems are apparently bigger than just being out of coolant. He's pretty sure there's a leak, but the coolant also isn't going into the engine...it's just sitting in the reservoir. So I headed back home, and they headed to the next exit so they could turn around. They only got about halfway to the exit when the car overheated again. So now they're doing the "let it cool, drive until it overheats, let it cool again" routine all the way back home.

So...I went on a run/walk to get some physical activity in today. Now I'm waiting to hear if they're going to come back up the hill later this afternoon in Sarah's car. If they don't want to do that, I'll go down to their place. I need to pick something up at REI anyways. Either way...we will be watching the All-Star game.

I have to admit...I get excited for the All-Star game every year, and almost every year I'm disappointed. You'd think that it would be an amazing game to watch, since it's 2 teams compromised of (theoretically) the best players currently playing baseball. But a lot of the guys are afraid of getting hurt during the game, so they sometimes don't play their best. Or it ends up just being a pitcher's duel (which, frankly, isn't all that fun to watch). It's changed a little bit in the last few years, now that the game actually "means something." The winner of the game (American League or National League) gets home field advantage in the World Series. That can definitely be a big deal!!

But this year, I know that I'll get to watch my Indians play in it. Grady Sizemore is getting to start in the outfield, and Cliff Lee is the starting AL pitcher!! Woo hoo!! It's always nice when my team gets some positive national attention!! :-)