planes, trains, and AUTOMOBILES

I've been questioned a good bit lately about when I'm going to get a new car--by others and myself. My Camry has 114,000 miles; it runs well, though the gas mileage for this trip was down to 29-30 mpg (versus 32-33 in year's past). I've had to do little to the car mechanically, other than general maintenance. It's a good car. It's paid for. The thought of talking to a car salesman is unappealing. I'll just keep driving it.

During the summer, I typically crack my windows to allow hot air to escape. (Hang with me, this is going somewhere.) Near the end of the summer, the back window behind the driver began to make a loud clicking sound when I let it up or down. That was easily remedied when I stopped lowering it.

Monday morning, Dave and I awoke in Monroe, Louisiana, ready to make the final 4 1/2 hour drive to our home. It was brisk outside, and there was heavy dew. That silly Dave in his desire to actually see out of the car before he started driving . . . he let down the driver's window and raised it to clear it off. Then as he hit the button to lower the window, I started, "No don't lower that window" clink, clink, clink "it's broken."

Here we are 300 miles from home and the window is stuck down. It's chilly outside; the back seat is loaded. So I did what anyone would do, I just started to laugh. What are the odds? I had the scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in my mind as John Candy and Steve Martin drive along the highway bundled up in the Lebarron convertible that has been demolished. Dave said, "You won't be laughing when you're wearing 3 coats the rest of the drive home," which only made me giggle more since that's exactly what I was envisioning. A few attempts to get the window back on track were unsuccessful. So Dave pulled the window up as well as he could. We headed for the gas station to find duct tape. The first bump we hit caused the window to fall down about 3 inches.

Gas station number one didn't have duct tape. I asked directions to Wal-Mart or Home Depot. I got something like, "Go up this road to the University exit. Go right for a ways. Turn left and it sits on the right." We tried to follow these directions--to no avail. So we stopped at a larger gas station. Eureka! Duct tape. Dave taped the window in the up position, and we were on our way. We drove to the first Texas rest area and stopped to retape the window.

I called the mechanic today. He can't get around to it until Friday. No biggie. It's taped up. But I'm sure I'll be the only duct-taped car in the parking lot at my high-rent high school.