After about 18 years driving my 1999 Ford Ranger I was forced to buy another vehicle. I say forced because my truck was on it's last legs and instead of plunking more money into it, I decided to use the money on a down payment. Why a used car? Well, that's simple. My credit, at the moment, is not good enough to buy a new car. At least that's was my conclusion. I didn't want to go in and embarrass myself trying to buy a new car and being turned down.
I had been planning to buy another ride for some time. Unfortunately, every time I thought about it, I would just put it off and put it off. I remember always telling myself that I would never get rid of my truck regardless of if I ever bought a new car or truck. I always would make promises of fixing up my Ranger to look like new. I vowed "I will never give up my truck." And here I am, without my truck and with another vehicle.
The last straw.
My mother sold her washer and dryer to some people from Aransas Pass. I drove to my mom's home town 45 miles from Corpus Christi and loaded the units on to my truck and drove to AP. I came back to my mother's house then drove back to Corpus. When I got back in to town, on the freeway, my truck stalled. I was shitting myself at that point. I was able to start the truck but it would drive for a few feet and stall again. I had no idea what to do, I was scared and afraid I wasn't going to make it home. I managed to keep starting the truck, get off the freeway and onto the access road. I had to continue starting the truck again and again until I was home. Thank God for my battery, it really saved me that day. That wasn't the first time that happened to me.
The same thing happened a few weeks earlier. You would think at that point I would learn my lesson. No, not me. True to form I kept driving my truck and hoping for the best. That's me for you. There had been other times my truck had issues: a long time ago it would stutter while driving, I had issues with it about a year after I bought it, my engine cooling system had issues, my front end needed work to were a mechanic told me one day "your wheels are going to fall off", but I kept driving it. I didn't want another bill, I needed tuition money. So I drove worried sick all the time.
So here I am. I love my new car. I'm enjoying all the amenities of a fairly new vehicle: a functioning radio, bluetooth, power windows, a fully working AC to name a few things. But, it was a hard transition. I cried my eyes out when I had to clean my truck out and to leave it behind knowing I would never see it again. I know to some people this is ridiculous, but I'm a very sentimental person. I get attached to things and it's very hard to let somethings go. Especially my truck which had been with me for 18 years.
I still miss it. Every day it gets better though. It's still a hard pill to swallow. So many emotions were going through me: sadness, fear, loneliness, uncertainty. I think one of the worst things was that I didn't have any one close to me to talk to and express my emotions. That was hard.
But, the time is now and as I said I'm still getting used to my new car. I'm a little apprehensive (that's just me, I'm a worrier) because it is a used car. I checked it out carefully, but you never know if this vehicle has unseen issues of it's own. So far so good.
1999 Ford Ranger
2015 Hyundai Sonata
