There she goes, a dear old friend. She has donated her body to charity. She will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds will go to the Alzheimer Association and who knows where her organs will end up. Perhaps she will remain in one piece and be reconditioned for another life. Or perhaps she will go to a junk yard where she will be sold off again piece by piece. Wherever she goes she will live again. She served us well and deserves to live on. I hope to see her flying down I10 again on her way to Alaska. She almost made it there once but we stopped short of our journey in Canada.
She was purchased in 1988 by my husband. A brand new Chevrolet Suburban, silver and blue, three rows of seats. We had four children and they were thrilled with it. We couldn't wait to take her on the road for a family vacation. We would load her up with sleeping bags, pillows, favorite toys and games and head out on camping trips or long road trips. The back end was spacious but filled so high with our belongings we could barely see through the rear view mirror. The luggage rack on top would carry our tent and camping chairs. We were a sight going down the interstate. Oh the places we went.......
We lived in Houston a few miles off Interstate 10 highway. We would pick the kids up from school on a Friday afternoon, my husband would take off work early, the 'Burb would be packed up and off we would go to beat the Friday afternoon rush out of town. Our journeys took us to many states, camp grounds and state parks....Stephen F Austin State Park, Huntsville State Park, Galveston Island State Park, Padre Island State Park, Estes State Park, Yellowstone State Park, Canyon Lake, Big Bear, Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Mexico and Canada. She didn't take us to these places just once but several times. She was put to pasture on our ranch with over 200,000 miles on her and still running.
The Burb had an exciting life and a couple of close calls. Shortly after we purchased her when my daughter was only 16 she took a few friends to the movie theater. When the movie was over they headed to the Burb. She was no where to be found. My daughter was frantic. She knew where she had parked it but it was gone. The Burb had been a victim of theft. We assured our daughter it wasn't her fault, there wasn't a thing she could have done about it. The thieves had broken into the vehicle, hot wired it and drove it to another location where they took her seats, and tires. The police found her the next day in a run down neighborhood in Houston. She was towed and repaired, brought back to life to make many more travels with us.
The Burb was also in a very bad accident. I was driving through a double intersection when I was rammed by a tired chef who had just gotten off work. He didn't see the double light, his was red, the one further from him was green and that's the one he was looking at when he slammed into us, totaling the Burb. She was built so well that she actually saved our lives. We thought she was done for but the mechanics and body shop slowly brought her back to life again.
For a while she became a ranch vehicle but then we began to use her less and less. Being as big as she was, she was a gas guzzler so she began to sit more and more. Finally my husband called NPR(National Public Radio) and donated her.
As we cleaned her out this morning many memories came back to me. Is it possible to cry over a vehicle? Well to us she was more than a vehicle, she was family. All of our family drove her with pride, including the bonus baby, our fourth child who is now 21. I felt sad every time I saw her sitting unused and I feel sad watching her being towed away but it's good to know that she donated herself to help others
Goodbye old friend............
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