road trip gone wrong

It was a sad day in Paihia. My lovely little Henrietta – a 1996 Honda CR-V – had died. We weren’t together very long, which is why this hurt so bad! Having a car was a big deal to me here – it means freedom and adventure. Dealing with the bus is generally difficult and frustrating, not to mention cumbersome when you accumulate things thinking you have a car.

Anyway, I learned five very important lessons when Hetty broke down on the side of the road.

know the basics. I don’t know much about cars. I do know that when your engine starts smoking, it’s probably good to cut the engine. I did not know that you’re supposed to put water in your engine. Why wasn’t I taught this in drivers’ ed? I also had to have someone help me change a tire. These are things I wish I had known.

know where you are. Thank god for GPS and data plans on phones. I didn’t really know where we were… I only knew we were heading toward a certain place, and it was hard to pin down exactly where we were. The tow truck driver had to rely on messages being relayed by the garage from me – who didn’t know the area at all.

have a backup plan. I planned on using Hetty to drive to the South Island. Now, less than two weeks before I left, I had to reevaluate my plan… bus? Plane? No freaking clue.

get a second opinion. I got towed to a garage across the peninsula. I picked it up six days later and immediately had a local mechanic check it out. I asked my bar regulars where to go, so I knew I had a trusted source. But I also asked friends who know cars. Every opinion was the same… Poor Hetty is dead. The unfortunate thing here is… I should have had this opinion a month ago – before I bought the car. But I trusted the previous owner who had done a service on it within the week and the car had passed the Warrant of Fitness. Little did I know… the WOF doesn’t cover the engine.

get over it. Things will happen. This car was a 1996 – 20 years old. And while I think it was my fault for driving over dirt roads, the chances are, it wasn’t really… this was bound to happen. And so all I can do now is suck it up and let it go.

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