Big Wheels

It finally happened this morning at 12:23 GMT; my Honda turned 100,000. I got my trusty lil 1997 Honda Accord SE with 63,678 miles on it in the summer of 04, and proceeded to put over 35,000 miles on commuting to Madera, heading up the Hill and driving to Texas a few times. I have poked and prodded into its innermost parts, mixed our blood together as knuckles scraped greasy metal and ridden in extreme comfort through countless miles of worry-free driving. My Honda is second only to my wife's wedding ring in important purchases over my 25 years, with the Star Trek communicator I got mail-order in fourth grade coming in a close third. All that is to say, in honour of my Honda turning 100 000, I thought I would come up with a nice cliche Top Ten List of Honda memories. And yeah, this list is in order from least to greatest. I wasn't interested in investing the time and/or engergy to figuring out how to make it go from 10 - 1.

1. The trip to Half Dome which started at about 4 am and ended somewhere around 10 pm. We bumped Marc Broussard from the Gate to the Valley Floor.
2. The trip to Half Dome which started about 9 pm and ended about 4 pm. There's nothing quite like explosive decompression to give you good karma for a hiking trip.
3. The 5:30 am dash to Valley Teen Ranch on Ave. 9. The phantom picking trucks in fog perk you up 10x better than Starbucks.
4. Driving back from Sacramento with Christy on her engagement trip . . . only to realize I somehow got mixed up and had been driving on 99 North for 45 minutes. Crap.
5. Replacing the radiator. The hardest part of replacing the radiator, apparently, is getting the company to ship it to you. In my case, this was harder than one might expect.
   
6. The satisfaction of completing a 3 000 mile road trip twice. The Dallas-Fresno commute is a little long, but you can't beat the scenery.
   
7. Discovering the rear defroster. It only took about a year to stumble upon it, but now I turn it on at random intervals and smile.
   
8. Replacing the seals on the spark plug wells. Not only did this DIY save me approximately $600, it was also a total testosterone boost.
9. Dallas-bound, somewhere on I-20, Honda made it to 120 mph (193 kph).
10. The gang-land check exchange in the Wal-Mart parking lot. If I ever find this shmuck who sold me the car, I'm getting the tank of gas he owes me out of him one way or another.