Life is a beautiful thing that isn’t always easy to get through. To put it bluntly, shit happens, and it may be difficult to pull through, if there’s even an easy solution. Cars are no different, but chaos isn’t always bad.
Jason’s cars keep finding creative ways to break and while they could be viewed as terrible experiences for little Otto, they can also be great teaching experiences, as Cryptoenologist points out:
You’re giving your kid trauma. The best kind of trauma, the kind that builds resilience.
When he gets older, he’ll get into all sorts of silly predicaments, probably with someone in the car he recently started dating.
And he will be calm and unperturbed, because he has been at the same juncture many times.
Dale Mitchell concurs:
Yes! This.
Once in a while I get to remind my now-adult sons; Boy Scout campouts were sometimes cold and uncomfortable. But! They learned that those situations were survivable. future rough patches can be greeted with ‘I’ve endured worse’
Now if Otto ever finds himself in similar situations, he knows you can improvise car parts out rocks and sometimes you can just grab any wheel that fits to limp yourself out of a bad situation.
A number of readers were concerned about Jason cooking the AWD system by running a mismatched wheel and tire. But Stephen Walter Gossin is correct about what’s most important:
Jason and I had this conversation quickly, with traffic blowing by us at 80MPH just feet away from his most-precious possession, his kid. I was reminded of all those horror-videos you see of side-of-Interstate crashes and was working as fast as possible to get us the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
The AWD concerns on that old Toyota van were a distant 2nd to the above concerns, but we both agreed that going about 80 miles on it to get to Wilmington (on a Sunday afternoon; no tire shops open in the middle of hog farm country) wouldn’t destroy the van and was the right (and only) move.
Jason is going to get a replacement tire of the correct size before driving it back to his homestead.
Solid call-out though, since as Autopians this is important AWD info. Cheers, and thanks!
As Matt wrote this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t appear to be a car person. How much that matters is up to you, but Janeane Garafolo is going to hit you with something that’ll make you spit out your drink:
I mean, Bill Clinton is a big Hummer guy.
Have a great evening, everyone! I’m at EAA AirVenture this week soaking in everything aviation, plus a surprising amount of RV stuff, too. Here’s a sneak peek:
I’m going to leave this one without any context:
The size of the Autopian staff’s combined cache of shitboxes that don’t run properly is unimaginable. Just ottomh all these vehicles have significant reliability issues:
Jason: Marshal, Yugo, Changli, Sienna, Sally’s VW, deer magnet Pao (talk about nominative determinism)
Mercy: approximately 100 vehicles, many of which have problems, including structural rust and mysterious gremlins in Sheryl’s BMW
SWG: a dozen Mopar and Jag shitboxes and a moldy swamp Buick
Adrian: a Ferrari and what, a Mini?
Hardibro: shitty forester (good riddance)
DT: a Chrysler van, a red kitten nursery rotting away at Galpin, a leaf with 12 inches of range, a Mustang with no heat
What’s hilarious is that Detroit David’s collection was a massive junkyard of 100% rusty piles that should all have been crushed, and Hollywood David drives 2 BMWs and a Jeep wrapped in a screen protector. Hollywood David has arguably the healthiest fleet. WHAT HAPPENED TO TRENCHFOOT DAVID?
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But sometimes it kills you.
Or, in the case of a live-in mother-in-law, just makes your life miserable.
If we use Torch as an example, I’d say what doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.
…he has been at the same juncture many times.
…future rough patches can be greeted with ‘I’ve endured worse’
Yeah, no. By this logic I should be grateful for the beatings I got as a kid since they’re the reason I’ve been able to handle any pain life has thrown at me since then because nothing has been as bad.
So glad the Clinton comment was noticed. Well done, Janeane!
Agreed that terrible experiences build character. After 10 years in the Navy, I could always state two things with complete accuracy:
These two truths have served me well ever since.
Is #1 referring to the accommodations or the company kept?
“Hummers” are life’s greatest joy for a man. I don’t get all the “shade” (is that the right term..I’m old) thrown on those who provide.
Well this opens up a whole new area of discussion…
The Col has some very NSFW thoughts about this.
I think the key to your answer is to see who’s throwing the shade.