I got a CB. I really hope none of my Volvo friends see me with it on.

Trip east
(67k+ miles)

Only just a week after being run around back and forth to Lowes for Christmas decorations, I was being packed full of Christmas gifts, suitcases, lighter-doublers to run the CB, XM, GPS, and charge the phone. I knew it was going to be a long trip.

So off we went, with a short opening tour to Columbus on the docket. It was raining, so when I started to stutter on the highway, I think my owner thought it was just the tires slipping on the expansion joints. But then he kept pressing me harder, and I couldn’t help but stutter and shake whenever he’d try to accelerate. Once, I did it so hard that it completely knocked the car out of gear.

We pulled off and he filled me up with some high-octane fuel and some fuel-injector cleaner. We did some test runs up and down a side street, but I was still having a hard time accelerating.

But I don’t think my owner is that bright, and he set back off on the highway towards Columbus despite me telling him something was wrong with my “check engine” light.

It didn’t help that we had to go five miles an hour for almost four miles at the 70 and 75 intersection, with me still barely able to accelerate…but eventually, we got back up to 73 miles an hour and got on the way to Columbus.

The next day, we went over to the Saab store. I met a couple new friends, who hooked me up to the diagnostics, and yep, my main ignition was on the fritz, making me misfire on two of my four cylinders.

(they also fixed my brake light that was out, which I suspect would have never happened otherwise with this owner…)

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the part, but the guys over at One Stop Saab did, and I met Ilkke, a Fin who used to work in the Saab factory in Finland, making the old 900’s….they got me going again, and then sorted out my oxygen sensor…so from there, a seemless trip to just south of Wilkes-Barre, PA after a late (I got to see Columbus rush-hour traffic!) start after the repairs. The next day, it was on to boston, where I got my first-ever parking ticket.

And then, I got stuffed with another passenger and his luggage, and we stopped for even more stuff as noone was quite done with their Christmas shopping. We made good time up to Vermont and even though there were lots of hills, I still got 30 miles a gallon…

A few days later, coming back from Island Pond, I turned 68,000 miles…nearly 2,000 miles in just a month…

I hear we are heading back to boston, and then I’m going to see NYC…