flashback friday, betlnut

The first vehicle I drove was a black 1984 Chrysler Laser, Turbo. I got it at my surprise 18th birthday party (which wasn't really a surprise, because my mom threw me a "surprise" birthday party pretty much every year). Anyway, I was surprised to find this little black car on our front lawn in May of 1997 when I arrived home, complete with the license plate "betlnut" (I was a big Beatles' fan, so my mom took the liberty of registering it for me).

(this is not an actual picture of my car, but the closest I could find on Google)

Betlnut was no ordinary car. It could talk. It told me when my door was open: "The door is ajar." It told me when my oil was low: "Check oil level." It reminded me to fasten my seatbelt: "Please fasten your seatbelt." It also told me when my windshield wiper fluid was low: "Windshield wiper fluid is low." Yeah, it was kind of like "Kit" on "Night Rider," but not anywhere near that cool.

I spent the last few months before heading to college with my new ride. I learned how to drive a manual pretty quick and it was a lot of fun. I taught a friend how to drive it one day when we ditched our 8th hour chemistry class. Another time, I got stuck about 1/3 of the way from my school to my home when the check oil light came on and smoke was coming from under the hood. I decided to pull over and wait for someone to bring me more oil. Even after putting a full quart in, it continued to leak and smoke. I found out that betlnut had a crack in it's engine so we were losing oil at an alarming rate. Eventually a temporary fix made it possible to drive the car again.

Betlnut made the trip to Rexburg, ID with me in the summer of 1997 (and sat in the parking lot most of the time). It also made the trip home from Rexburg, ID a few times. One trip included driving about 15 miles a hour through a snow storm where I could see nothing but the red tail lights of the semi in front of me. I also got soaked from the snow entering through a broken seal on the drivers side door.

Another trip home from Rexburg, ID in particular was very memorable. Me, my roommate, and a friend from my hometown all made the trip together and on the way back to Idaho, just North of Jackpot, NV, betlnut unexpectedly died. Luckily, a woman saw us and stopped to give us a ride back to Jackpot. The woman who picked us up took us to her church leaders home and he knew the local LDS church leaders. Within an hour or two, we were given a hotel room to stay in and a free meal at the local casino. We ended up having to stay two nights in the bustling town of Jackpot, NV (They have a hotel and several casinos, but no grocery stores!). However, my impatient roommate took off without telling me where she was going. I found out several days later that she had hitchhiked with truckers back to Rexburg and arrived there safely. I was left to share a hotel room with a guy that I barely knew (I wasn't about to ask the nice people who were letting us stay for free to give us two free rooms). I don't even remember his name now, but he was a very nice return missionary (which at the time, meant "way too old for me") and we played cards A LOT! The nice people from the local LDS ward, who we never even met, by the way, also had my car towed to Twin Falls and fixed for me. They then arranged a ride for us in to Twin Falls to pick up Beltnut and sent us on our merry way back to Rexburg, and they insisted on paying for it all themselves!

Beltnut took a break my sophomore year of college and sat in my mom's yard until my brother Todd fixed it up again and then the car headed to Provo with me in the summer of 1999. I was driving Betlnut when I met Wade (that must be the reason that he was interested in me!). Betlnut never drove for long, it would work for a few months and then sit, unable to drive, in the parking lot of whatever apartment I lived in. Although I owned the car for about 3 years, Betlnut probably only got about a year of actual drive time.

Betlnut had been sitting in the parking lot of Centennial Apartments for several months and would eventually be towed, when Wade I were married and moved out of the apartments in 2000. At first, I thought that was a good solution. But then I learned that they charge you for impounding your vehicle and make you pay the fees eventually, whether you want the car or not, so we had to come up with a better solution. We decided to give it away, but had to call around quite a bit before we found a junk place that would come and pick up the poor car without charging us money to do so. I left the title in the glove box and keys in the engine since I wouldn't be home when they came to tow it away (yeah, real sentimental, I know).

For the next few years, I drove Wade's 1988 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. Those of us who knew it, knew it as "The Monty." I used the Monty to commute to work at Alpine Elementary for 2 years. In 2002, we bought our used 2002 Toyota Corolla, still used by Wade to commute to work. One year ago, I upgraded to a Dodge Grand Caravan. Talk about a sweet ride! It doesn't get any better than this. Eat your heart out Betlnut! (Seriously, I love my minivan, and I never thought I'd say that).