The end of the road

I purchased my first car in April of 2000, a 1992 Saturn SL2 I decided to call Sally. Sally is the lietenant in charge of defense for a group of aliens visiting earth in the sitcom Third Rock from the Sun, she's a "big angry virgin, and proud of that!" Third Rock from the Sun was my favorite sitcom in 2000 and it seemed to fit my new car just fine. At the time I was just getting to know my now husband Royce Hunt and he had agreed to take me to the place where I would pick up Sally from her previous owners. It was Royce who helped me learn how to handle the clutch, but it was Sally who taught me how to drive her. She put on a little yellow arrow on the dash when I needed to shift her gears. She would protest when I did something wrong, but she did more than that during our drives together. Sally is a fun, sporty looking navy blue car. She was a great first car, and got me from the last days of my undergraduate degree at Cedarville College, through graduate school in Lexington, and finally to the first monthes as a mother. She also saved my life. On one drive back to Lexington after visiting family and friends over the Thanksgiving break 2000, I fell asleep at Sally's wheel with her cruise control on. Sally veared into the far left lane and then into the gardrail. When I woke up, I was sailing backwards across 3 or 4 busy lanes of Interstate highway traffic. I landed with a thud in a ditch, stopping just a few feet from flowing water. Two cars stopped and one of them took me to the nearest exit where I called AAA Roadside assistance for a tow truck to pull Sally out of the mud. When the driver of that car dropped me back at my car, a police officer was stopped at my car. He had already called for a tow truck and allowed me to wait in his car. My first time in the back seat of a police cruiser! Boy was I glad it wasn't because I was on my way downtown! :-) Soon the tow truck arrived, pulled Sally out of the ditch and I was able to drive her on to my destination. From that day onward I remembered to stop when I got tired, drink lots of fluids while traveling to necessitate frequent stops which would keep me awake and alive. I didn't want to put Sally to another test. Later in 2001 I found out why Sally didn't go sailing into oncoming traffic that day. Sally the Saturn's main exhaust pipe had caught on the guard rail and been strong enough to propel her back accross traffic and into the ditch. I was replacing Sally's muffler and the technician showed me the bend in my exhaust pipe where it had caught the guard rail. Thank God for strong exhaust pipes and His grace to me that evening!
Sally's been part of my adventures in fun ways as well. It was Sally that I drove backwards through the McDonald's drive thru to order some water (Royce didn't think I'd do it)! Sally the Saturn carried a frightened male tabby cat (Buddy) to his new homes in Kentucky from his birthplace in South Vienna, Ohio. He later loved to ride in her, even though it usually meant he was seeing the vet. Sally later brought a terrified female calico Siamese cat (Skittles) and her four kittens from the same South Vienna, Ohio home to my home in Kentucky. Skittles never learned to enjoy riding in Sally, but Sally was a good sport about cat food all over her backseat and kitty vomit on her floor. Sally was with me when I got my first apartment, my first television set, and my first (and best) love (Royce). Sally also met Harry, a white Toyota Echo. They traveled together the last five years, loving every bit of it. She took me to my first real job out of school and took me home to my best job yet (motherhood).
Sally has a kickin' heater and a sense of fun. We've enjoyed driving down the highways, country roads, and city streets together. Sally and I have cruised with her radio blaring and her lights going. We've loved life's journey over the past 6 years. But our time together is drawing to a close.
Sally's been out to pasture for the last two years really. She's need lots of repair and yet kept on going. She took Royce to work these last few monthes and it was in doing this that she made her last ride. August 18th, Friday, of this year (2006) she was taking Royce home from work when her little ignition system gave out and she puttered to a halt after sailing down a hill on Grinstead Drive, a few blocks from home. Try as he might, Royce could not rescucitate her. Yesterday she was towed to Saturn of Louisville where they pronounced her repairs in excess of her monetary worth. Saturday we go to say goodbye to Sally the Saturn and send her on to the happy highways of car heaven (shut up you over-serious types out there!). Then it will be the end of the road for Sally the Saturn. She's had quite a ride! It was fourteen years of driving the streets, roads, lanes and highways of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. I'll always love my first car and think of her fondly, telling of her to my children. And I'll tell them their mother is a silly, sentimental fool who once cried over a car.