New Wheels

I asked Evelyn's brother, Ken, to snap or picture Saturday beside the new (to us) used car we bought that morning. Ken has a friend in the Russell church who has a small used car lot in Ashland, KY, where they live. "I'll never buy another new car again," Ken said, because his friend, John McKinney, at River Cities Motors, buys reliable cars at excellent prices at the car auction and passes along the savings on good vehicles to his customers.
We think we got a good one, a 2012 Hyundai Sonata GLS with only 35,600 miles, 25,000 miles remaining of factory warranty and an excellent price.
I told John we might be sending some friends to Cincinnati his way. It would be worth the drive!
We drove to Ken and Susan's Friday night after my work. Got stuck in traffic behind a wreck on I-275, which added about 30 or more minutes to the trip. We drove through Wendy's for chicken nuggets and got to their house just after 8:30.  Susan had made a tasty dessert-bar-cake, sweet and tasty under mounds of wild blackberries they had just picked.
Susan made us a wonderful breakfast casserole the next morning, and then we went and visited the car dealership. It was great fun getting to know Ken's friend John.
We rested and visited in the afternoon before eating at a wonderful little Italian restaurant in a magnificent old building in downtown Ironton, Ohio. We left there about 7:30 and were home before 10:30.

Friday with Friends

Yesterday I said good-bye to one friend and spent good time together with a couple of others.
I sold our Camry to Jim Nieman who bought it for his son, Craig, to drive to college. The car has served us well for 169,964 miles, and I think it will make the perfect auto for Craig's needs the next 2 or 3 years.

 Evelyn and I will drive her Corolla to Louisville for the NACC, and then we hope to go to Ashland and buy a car from a dealer there recommended to us by Evelyn's brother, Ken. Hopefully, we'll be making a new fuel-injected friend in about a week!

Last night we met Milt and Maribeth Pippenger for dinner at the Golden Lamb in Lebanon. They've been camping there this weekend on their way to the NACC in Louisville. We spent the day with them on the Fourth, and they're visiting with Dale and Judy McCann today. We plan to meet 'em at church tomorrow and all share lunch together.
After dinner (a very fine dinner), we followed them to the campsite and sat in their roomy fifth-wheel motor home and visited till 10 o'clock. We decided Thursday that it's been about a year and half since I had seen them and even longer since the four of us had been together.
We first met Milt and Maribeth in 1976--39 years ago!--when we stayed in their home while interviewing for the Christian education minister position at First Christian Church in Longmont. We became close to them there in a Bible study/prayer group that was a great support as each of us comtemplated major career moves--Milt to a teaching position at San Jose Bible College and I to the editorship of The Lookout at Standard Publishing. It's a great treasure to have lifetime friends like these.

10-11-12

The bad news: After going to my men's group this morning and then filling my tank at the Kroger's pumps on Mason-Montgomery Road, my car wouldn't start; wouldn't even turn over.
The good news: The man filling up at the pumps ahead of mine said, "I think it's your battery. Do you have any jumper cables?"
The bad news: I don't have 'em, because I don't know how to use 'em.
The good news: The Good Samaritan who reached out to me found some cables from a kid two bays over. He jumped my car like a professional and gave me advice about where to buy a new battery.
The bad news: There was no way I was going to buy a battery and try to install it myself.

The good news: The mechanic I've learned to trust, Dale Barnes in Mason, was open for business when I arrived at his shop a little before 7:30. He tested my battery, determined it was dead, hooked up the car to an auxiliary battery so the car's computer wouldn't reset, and replaced my battery with a new one. And I got to work by a little after 8:00.
The best news: The battery didn't fail at a Quick Stop somewhere in Kentucky or North Carolina while we're on the road this weekend. I felt really blessed as I tooled down Mason-Montgomery Road on my way to work.
And after work I ran the car through the car wash--first time since the wedding in June, I guess it was about time. My Camry is a little beat up on the outside, but I still take it to the car wash because of all the work those fellows do to clean up the inside, including the windows. We should have a clear view of the changing leaves on what promises to be a pretty day between here and North Carolina.

My view of the swishing car washers through the windshield from inside the car.