Lynn Lawler's Creative Artists' Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to you all. Recently things have been really busy for us. We were in a situation where we had to buy a new car. Both of us really like our old car, a Pontiac Vibe, a vehicle no longer being made. We pursued a few sites and found one that we liked on Car Fax. The only thing was that it was located up in Sacramento. This excited me because I love road trips. Thank goodness for ride services because in past times we would have had to rely on a cab or else park our car at the airport in short term parking and pay a heafty fee. It was an easy process and we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

At our terminal, they had us board the plane outside via a ramp. This was a first for me as I was expecting to walk through the raised walkway like we always do. Thank God the weather was cordial that morning.

This time our plane ride went smoothly, without the hint of turbulence. It was nice being above the clouds, gazing at the sunlight out the window. On the descend, the clouds were so thick that you couldn’t see anything, but the color grey.   By now both of us were very excited and visualizing ourselves driving the new car.

We had to take a train to the other side of the airport to meet our Uber ride.   I’ve been up to Sacramento many times and at one time my wife briefly lived there. We got lucky with the weather since it has been raining and was supposed to rain last Saturday.   Instead we had partly cloudy and sunshine with a decent temperature. Usually it is cold and rainy up here during the winter months.

As Uber drove us, I felt a sense of deja vous. It turns out that the car dealer was located about 1 mile from where my wife used to live many years ago. Uber dropped us off at the dealer’s lot. We walked about 20 feet before we saw the car sitting up front, looking as bright as ever. We were both excited.

We got in the car and were off on our test drive, with the owner in the back. Soon after, however, we encountered a problem; the brakes pulled. This put us both on high alert, but I didn’t sense any danger. Nonetheless the owner took us to his repair place to get it checked out, saying safety was his number one concern for us. Turns out the emergency brake rear rotate needed attention.   He replaced the back brakes, pads, and rotars with new ones, no charge to us, while my wife and I enjoyed a nice cup of joe at a nearby Starbucks.

Afterwards we continued with our test drive. We got onto the I-80. It was refreshing to travel at the posted speeds since back home you often times inch along the freeways, even when it isn’t rush hour. Also no one was running red lights, like I’ve seen occasionally down here. There was no congestion on the surface streets. I felt a sense of freedom being in the car.

Back at the dealership, he shaved more money off for us, making the deal even better. As we walked out to our new car, we agreed that this was the funniest test drive we’d ever been on.

Later we went for a drive around town.   The brakes were smooth as well as the ride. The first thing we noticed was that the roads up here isn’t congested like they are down in LA. It took us a moment to get used to it. It was fun driving by places that I’ve been to before and it brought back good memories. We settled on Del Taco for lunch, which, I’ve been to this location.

Later we drove back down to LA along the l-5. We were both pumped up, but stuck to the posted speeds. Since it was still daylight, we were able to see a lot of the countryside. Thankfully we encountered no bad weather. Along the way, we manage to get some homework done. All in all this was a fun adventure and I’m glad we did it.

Stay tuned for my next blog. I am reviewing Breanna Hughes’ A Fine Mess. You don’t want to miss this one. Be safe and have fun.

Until next time,

Lynn