A milestone with a close friend.

It happened, Saturday, September 18^th, at 10:26 am… on Hwy 101 in Redwood City… the Escape turned 200,000 miles…

It’s quite a milestone… Most cars don’t last this long. It’s a reminder of good trips, many quite far away… The last trip, to the Colorado Plateau in Utah, ending less than a week ago was just over 2,400 miles... It was not a unique trip. Previously she has been on long loops through Oregon, through Montana and Wyoming, quick trips to Tucson Arizona, and many, many day trips to Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Monterey, Yosemite and various other places…

A good car or truck is a lot like a good dog… a really good, reliable friend, a companion, but too likely gone too soon.

At 60 miles an hour 200,000 is 3,300 hours, more likely I have averaged 45 miles an hour, so 4,400 hours… or something like 185 24 hour days... at 12 hours we are nearing a year in the driver’s seat, so likely I have spent more.

The Escape has been to 10 states, 19 or so National Parks… It has never had a mechanical that stranded me… I only got it stuck bad once, in quick sand in the Owens Valley. That cost several hundred dollars for a off road tow truck…

I special ordered the car… the truck… The Escape… it’s a cross over so who knows… high trim, with a 5 speed transmission, 4 wheel drive, and a very small (2 liter) 4 cylinder engine… (the engine was not a choice… the 5 speed transmission only came mated to the small 4 cylinder engine) but is was a good choice.

The small engine has meant good mileage, at least if I drive it carefully… At 45 mph it gets over 30 mpg… more typically it gets 25 mpg… I like to drive too fast, and so the mileage drops. The worst milage I ever got was 19 mpg taking the daughter to collage in Arizon… loaded to the gills with stuff, stuff on the roof…

Its been hit twice, both rear end collisions (hit from behind), both repaired… at someone else’s expense.

I am likely to special order the same vehicle when the time comes to move on… it’s that good a car.

Strangely it never acquired a name beyond “The Escape”, which in retrospect may be the perfect name for the vehicle.

It has scars… scratches on the roof from sand on the bottom of my kayak… a bent roof rack… from carrying too many heavy beams to rebuild a railroad car… the floor mats are well worn… currently there is red mud, from the Colorado Plateau splashed on the wheel wheels… The back seat is full of foxtails carried in by firewood, the spare tire compartment is dented, a victim of an off road experience, a large log near the headwaters of the Snake River.

She is in pretty good shape… My mechanic (a good local mechanic, (Big E Automotive)says she needs new engine mounts, but all else is good. I will have them do the engine mounts next week or so. I will probably treat it to an early oil change as well.

At 200,000 miles she is not yet done… I think she has at least a couple of good, long trips left, at least if I take good care of her. I will.