How many miles must a car walk down?

Figure 1: Volvo, parked in my parking space, at my high school graduation

The year is 1999. I'm partying like its 1999. It's the year that Napster is introduced, the Matrix and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace are released in theaters, and Bill Clinton is acquitted in his impeachment trial. But most importantly, it is the year that I turned 16 and (as destiny would have it), got my first car, a 1998 Volvo S70. It was purchased used at about a little under 50,000 miles from a good family friend, his holiness the (then) Bishop of the Florida Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. That's right, I drive the Bishop-mobile (and it's not a crappy Fiat!)

Flash forward a couple of years, it's 2001 and I leave for college. I'm forced to be separated from my ride for a year before I can bring it up with me to the frozen north. Beyond the emotional toll brought on by separation and longing, there is a physical price to be paid as well by leaving it unprotected in my father's hands, where he manages to put ~25,000 miles on it in one year driving back and forth between Florida and North Carolina. But Volvo and I are once again reunited my Sophomore year in Boston at about the 75,000 mile mark. We have been together ever since.

Today Volvo is enjoying life in 2006 as a Texan. It's been a bit of an adjustment for Volvo. Instead of being (literally) buried in snow, it now faces heat that (literally) melts the stickers off its windows. But it has driven proudly, completely unintimidated by the hordes of trucks that constantly surround it. But not only has it adjusted, it has thrived. The other day it hit a crowning achievement:

Figure 2: It's perfectly safe to use a cameraphone while driving

Yep, there is now an additional digit on my car's odometer. It happened on Interstate 635 while I was on my way to visit Lindsey. This car has been a workhorse. It's the only one I've ever owned. In the 7 years we've been together, it has lived in 4 states, traveled 50,000+ miles (half of which I actually drove), and has seen my sister drive 3 different cars (how did that happen by the way?). It has survived temperatures that has shown the thermometer having both a 3rd digit and a negative sign. It has suffered being towed twice, two fender benders, and numerous parking tickets. But thanks to being a Volvo, it has never once enticed a policeman to pull it over for speeding (although I most certainly deserved a couple as I have blown past a a few speed traps going 10-15 over without noticing them).

Volvo for Life