Percy, the Prius, Or, I Get Even More West Coast for a Bit

Better late than never?

So on Father's Day, which I spent with my maternal Uncle and cousins, I went to the grocery store.  As I was leaving said grocery store, I though it'd be fun to get in a fender bender.  When we connected I was more terrified than any other accident I had been in, although I was traveling exponentially slower.

After walking the 30-something year-old driver through the process (he literally ripped off and gave me his entire insurance card), I called my insurance company where the conversation went something like this.

InsuranceLady:  Can you describe the situation for me?

Me: Yes.  Essentially we were both parked in opposite spots in the same lane.  We must have backed out at the same time, because I saw no moving vehicles when I checked before backing out.  We met somewhere in the middle of the lane, and we had turned our cars in opposite directions because we connected at each other's driver's tailights.

IL:...So, you both rear-ended each other?

Me: Basically, yes.

IL: (audible sigh) Well, there's a first time for everything.

Her attitude was most helpful.

So while my dear car, Symon, went into the shop for ten days and sadly got his well-chosen bumper stickers replaced with a new bumper, I got to drive THIS:

Nothing says California* like a Prius - for those both economically and environmentally conscious, while perpertually in traffic.

Okay it was between this and a Black Challenger.  But since the only thing I had to pay for was the gas and I'm not trying to compensate for anything, the Prius appeared the winning choice.

Now I love my car - it's like a hybrid of the 90's and 00's.  Although a 2001, it has a cassette player, but it also has leather seats, a single CD player, and sunroof.  I like that it takes just over 5 minutes for the air to start being the temperature you desire and the emergency brake is in between the seats, like the gear shift.  I've been in more archaic cars, so I never thought it was far behind present models.  Until I got in this.

After figuring out the ignition was a button (as is the parking) and locating the parking brake by my left foot, the Jetsons and I proceeded to lift off and fly into the sky.

I tried to rid my head of the lyrics to "Black and Yellow" as I pressed to start, and spent the next 3 hours running errands, playing music from my phone wirelessly, accepting phone calls, checking my moment-to-moment MPG, and trying to figure out what the hell the "B" stood for on the gear shift (I decided on Badass).

But then I thought of Symon.  His leather seats, all the adventures we'd been on, the new hoods and bumpers he'd had,  his ability to survive minor flooding and the epic slurpee spill of 07/11/09, the trip across country that got me out to California in the first place...

How could I so easily forget my first car?  Faced with this shiny, efficient future, did the past mean nothing?

Eventually I got sick of all the music on my phone and was disenchanted to find in the manual that "B" only stood for engine Braking...something about going down hills, I don't know.  I was happy to see Symon again, although a slightly darker shade of blue and sticker free.

A week ago Symon turned the big 100,000.  My baby is a ripe middle-aged machine now, and I couldn' t be more proud.  I hope he sees 200,000, but even if he doesn't, I'll keep him til he goes to whatever heaven Disney-Pixar invents for cars.  I hope it has rides like the new park.

I have secretly always wondered if I could get to 150mph...but I'd just figure I'd wait until I get plutonium and my flux capacitor and a lightning storm strikes.  Sadly in CA, the latter is unlikely to happen any time soon.

And Amazon is all out of plutonium. Consistently.

*I know everyone in California doesn't drive a Prius or even want to drive one...but there are many more here than I feel there are in the South.  Just an observation.