The Mini Love Affair

When agonized over finding the best fit of vehicle for my personality in 2009, it was with immense pride and love that I pulled Habanero out of the dealershipshowroom in February. Ticketed merely weeks later for speeding down a Virginia highway to my first PhD residency, Habanero had a great head start to the 150,000 mile journey for the next five years. She was our mainstay in Denver for almost two years, and later in Scottsdale for almost a year. Having literally traveled from California to Cape Cod, Canada to Florida, and so much between including Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah … well, you get the picture.

One of Habanero’s most adventurous acts has to be slogging through several feet of snow to St. Elmo’s, a ghost town in Colorado that I was possibly a little over determined to do. Locals were a bit … dubious, but thanks to possibly a couple of tows, we survived, and we got to see ghost town in the most beautiful condition of nature: winter.

The other rather foolish but absolutely required adventurous act would be the beach on the farthest northern tip of the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Completely impervious to the recommendations of AWD vehicles, we went gaily along, until of course we hit a soft spot, and the real adventure truly started.

There are so many adventures to remember across the domestic USA. I dreamed of shipping her to Iceland for the Ring Road, and driving up to Alaska for a two month foray, but a certain long legged little girl said enough was enough. Turns out that she was getting really offended be forced into an eggplant position for hours at a time. My husband was just as crabby, and since Habanero was up for the multiple thousand dollar update for simply having that many miles on it, the timing was working out for the upgrade.

Sitting there in the car park in Charlotte, I had a flood of emotions overwhelm, which included screaming “I’m sorry Habanero!!! I can’t believe I even considered betraying you!!!” Then possibly running towards it, weeping, and throwing myself across her bonnet.

Hrm. Maybe not. A proper blog memorial will suffice.

Enter Peppercorn. Ellie leg approval has been reached. Eric’s need for electronic packages sated. Marian’s AWD and awesome engine expectations met. Finally a car that the whole family can agree on, thus I see a bright and long future together….with ownership only for 10 days and 3,000 km already clocked, Peppercorn is well on the path towards her own adventures to come J