The bearer of family fun

A day or two after the war with Iraq started -- or maybe it was a day

or two before it began -- I read that car sales were holding steady,

that people had decided that the war was not going to stop them from

making a major purchase.

That surprised me until I put two and two together and figured

that if air travel is down, which it is, car travel must be up. And

if car travel is up, then folks still need a decent ride.

I have not been on a plane in a year and a half. My last trip was

to Ketchikan, Alaska, when Cay and I went salmon fishing. We returned

on Sept. 10, 2001, one day before the terrorist attack in New York.

All of our family trips since then have been by car, specifically,

our 1996 Ford Windstar minivan.

Growing up, we always had only one car, and that was both the

family car and dad’s car. The one I remember best is our 1964 Rambler

station wagon.

The Rambler was way ahead of its time, for the seats had the

ability to fold down flat from the steering wheel back to the rear

window. Unfortunately, my brothers and I never got to experience

sleep in that car -- that was reserved for our parents, who declined

to sleep with us in the tent while we camped in Yosemite, Sequoia,

Joshua Tree and other spectacular places.

I was thinking about the old Rambler and all the trips we made,

especially all the trips we made to Yosemite, as I waited for the tow

truck to pull the Windstar out of rush hour traffic at Baker and

Fairview last Thursday.

That’s how it is: While waiting for the tow truck some people are

thinking about the repair bill, some are thinking about where they

should be instead of a busy intersection (in my case, it was Little

League practice) and some people are thinking about world peace.

But me? I was thinking about our Windstar and how well it had

served us for the past six and a half years.

The Windstar began as a multipurpose vehicle and was regularly

seen on the San Joaquin Hills toll road as I brought goods to UPS in

Laguna Niguel from my warehouse in Costa Mesa to ship to the

customers of my old import business.

Once I turned to writing full time, the Windstar also moved to

full-time duty as family car. The Windstar took us on more trips to

Yosemite than I can count, plus Palm Desert, the San Francisco Bay

Area, the California coast, Lake Tahoe and many, many points in

between.

The kids liked it because of the big windows and the seats that

were situated so they looked down on the world, not up, as in many

sedans and station wagons.

I liked the Windstar because it was dependable, the current

troubles notwithstanding. I also liked it because it had one of the

best, or maybe even the best, safety record.

But our trusty family car is dead, and I don’t think I’m going to

put money into it to fix it. At 112,000 miles, my Spidey-Sense is

telling me it’s time to part company.

Our family spent a lot of time in that car, enjoying each other’s

company. We’d listen to books on tape, even old radio shows we found

on CDs, play auto bingo and guessing games. As you probably know, we

did not have a monitor to play movies and never missed it, even on

the 10-hour drives to Lake Tahoe.

It’s not normal to get so sentimental about a car, particularly a

family minivan, but I’m cutting myself some slack because our culture

here in Southern California is so different than the rest of the

country. Because we spend so much time in our cars, in some respects,

it’s hard not to get attached to a good one like the Windstar.

So today, I will start looking for another car. I may even choose

another Windstar. But one thing I know for certain is that no 2003

vehicle will be as advanced as that 1964 Rambler station wagon with

the seats that folded flat.

*

If you like plants, do yourself a massive favor and visit Victoria

Elementary School between 8 a.m. and noon today. It’s their famous

semi-annual plant sale, where the latest and greatest are sold at

very low prices. All the money goes right back to the PTA. The school

is on Victoria in Costa Mesa between Placentia Avenue and Brookhurst

Street.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.