Just got back from a weekend in Asheville, NC. It was a short drive (about three and a half hours each way) but I was pleased by how easy the trip was. This is going to be a great car for distance driving. When we got to the hotel, I thanked undersea mah jongg for the nice drive by running into a concrete wall in the parking lot. Oops! At first I thought I'd gotten away with only a nick in the paint, but the front bumper is visibly warped on the right side. I may not get it repaired. I don't think you'll be able to see it once the carpet is in place.
Why the heck are bumpers so fragile on modern cars? Isn't the bumper supposed to be sturdy because it's likely to get dinged? Little Pig Boy's bumper was steel and rubber, and took a beating without any problems (I should know, I bumped that poor thing into practically every parking lot wall in Durham). But this bumper is made of some ridiculously flimsy material. One smack into a wall and it's bent! I think it's a conspiracy by car manufacturers to increase repair costs.
Anyway. I did a bit of car-related shopping, picking up a couple of plastic aquarium plants on sale. Even on the clearance rack the plants were more expensive than I'd hoped. I'm going to start checking thift stores, maybe one around here will have aquarium supplies. The coolest purchase was a pattern for a vintage bathing suit (the kind with sleeves, knee length bloomers and skirt, and a little cap). If I end up taking this car to parades it would be fun to wear the bathing suit.
Asheville is an odd town in the North Carolina mountains, full of young hippies with money (they're apparently called "trustafarians"). This morning we had breakfast at Blue Moon Bakery before heading back home, and saw a typical sight: two kids in ratty clothes, sandals, and various stages of dreadlocks, smoking hand-rolled cigarettes, drinking expensive lattes and eating expensive croissants. At one point the boy-hippie took a call on his cell phone. Ah, the salad days!
Tomorrow morning I drop the car off at Maaco. I can't wait to see its new color!
Post a comment