FREEDOM!!

Alrighty..a few months, yes, months ago...Big Blue, my beloved Xterra went lame. 

By lame, I mean I couldn't use her at all. Ya see...when Eric and I were on our way back from Ramstein, I noticed when we were almost home (about thirty minutes away) that my truck was making some seriously strange noises. Eric even picked up on it, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Of course, we made it home safely and relaxed from all the driving. The next day, I hop into Big Blue to run some errands and....she's dead. Super dead..the locks wouldn't even lock..that's how dead it was, lol. Eric ended up coming home during his lunch to jump me so I could get on my merry way...it worked, but once I got back home, it died yet again. FRUSTRATING! 

Oh, and there was a new noise. It sounded like a jet landing every time I'd brake, so, of course that freaked me out. I told Eric about it and he thought it was just built up brake dust and not to worry about it.....annnnnd then he drove Big Blue and realized it wasn't something minor. In fact, it was pretty epic, lol. 

Ya see..that *noise* we heard was actually the lid from the battery popping off and all the battery acid spilled all over my front brakes and rotors, which ate away lots of the metal. YEAH. Fun, right? Nope. I didn't feel safe what so ever driving it and I really didn't wanna be irresponsible and even attempt driving it, even around town. So, Big Blue had a nice vacation for two and a half months till all of her parts arrived from my awesome and oh so wonderful Dad. Since Belgium doesn't sell Xterras, the parts that were needed are considered "imports"..in simpler terms, it means my bank account was going to get mauled. After speaking to my Dad, he managed to score all the parts we needed and had them shipped over here. How fantastic is that?? We finally found time to take her in and have everything installed for the grand total of 65€. 

Needless to say, the guys at the auto shop got a laugh out of me because I was literally skipping and squealing with joy that my beloved Big Blue was all better! 

All the while, Eric groaned because he knew that I can now officially escape from the house and be reunited with my beloved Slegers... 

YIPPY!!!

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Day 30 - Car You Drive ( and past cars too!)

The current four wheeled love of my life is a 2006 Nissan Xterra! Her name is "Big Blue" and I got her October 4th, 2006. Yes, I remember exactly when I got her cause I bought her exactly a month before my birthday :) By far the best investment I've ever made and HIGHLY recommend an Xterra! Before I got her, she used to be an Enterprise rental car (very well taken care of), and I ended up getting her for a steal of a deal (she was all tricked out before I got my paws on her, thanks Enterprise!) and she's all paid in full. Decent gas mileage, has nice amount of "umpff" when you need speed up hills and mountainsides, plenty of cargo space, NEVER have had a problem with it... ahh I can go on and on. I seriously love this SUV and I'm positive Eric and I will be getting a second one whenever we go back to the States. 

By the way... the following photos are all pictures I searched for on the internet since I really don't feel like going out and taking pictures of my snow covered Xterra, and I don't have pictures of my old cars. Sorry!

Before Big Blue, I had a 1999 white VW Beetle named Scooter. I guess you can say it was a typical young college person type of car. When I first got her, I was absolutely in love (otherwise, why get it?), but after a while.. she started to lose her cuteness. The O2 sensors always went out ($400 each time that happened), the AC would die (usually during blistering hot days), the cruise control was very glitchy (and scary at times), she wouldn't want to start when I had important things to go to (ohhh like work, appointments, etc), the powered windows wouldn't want to roll down, and the gas mileage sucked. Volkswagens customer service wasn't stellar, which was VERY frustrating considering how much it cost to get the diagnostics done (it was required each time there was something wrong)...so that was one of the deciding factors to get rid of Scooter.  I got her in 2002 and she went bye bye in 2006, lol.

Last but not least, there was Margie. She was my 1967 VW Bug. I actually inherited her from my Grandpa when I was fourteen, but obviously wasn't old enough to drive just yet. So, when I got my drivers license, her keys were handed over to me and she was my pimp ride from age sixteen to twenty..or twenty one. I don't remember. Feels so long ago, LOL. Margie was a great lil' car, despite being an oldie.. she got me around, was very reliable aside from the usual tune up here and there.. my Dad had installed a CD player and bitchin' speakers so I didn't get stuck with just an AM radio. Once I got my paws on Scooter, my Dad ended up holding onto Margie for a while, but ended up selling her about three-ish years ago to an ex-boyfriend of mine who is a VW enthusiast. 

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