Well I've gone through a bunch of great cars in my day; most of them well-loved beaters with great stories attached. There was Long John Silver, The Purple School Bus, The Walrus, Verona, The Red Tomato, The Dodge Dart, True Blue, and then...The Green Volvo.
Now The Green Volvo had a lot of nicknames, none that ever really ever stuck, but man...she was one hell of a car. One of those cars that you feel so safe in because your Dad gave it to you and you used to sit in the back seat on family trips and now you're a grown up but you're driving around the world in a capsule protected by your Dad's love? Yeah, just like that. Plus, it was a really nice car that had the kind of stamina to cross the country without breaking down all the time.
About a month before Guthrie and I left for Vancouver for our year at film school, I was looking into storage options, thinking I'd put 'er up on blocks in a garage somewhere and fly out to Vancouver where I wouldn't need a car anyway. It was a hot, sunny afternoon in late August, and we were sitting on the lawn in front of the house we grew up in looking at The Green Volvo. The doors and trunk were wide open, the beer cooler was overturned on the lawn, and various tarps and sleeping bags were draped across the yard. We were all airing out from a particularly sad and soggy drive home from Coventry, the very last Phish show. I think we were all wondering what was going to happen next. Guthrie turned to me and said, "You know Cait? The best possible use for that car is to carry us out to Vancouver and back so I don't have to check my guitars on the airplane and we can have another fun roadtrip!"
The next thing I knew, we were squabbling over who would "take the trunk" and who would "take the back seat" in terms of filling it up with possessions for the big year ahead. Between my clothes and Guthrie's gear, believe me, we didn't waste an inch of space. We hit the trail once again, driving the entire length of I-90 from Springfield to Seattle and watched the leaves turn the entire way, listening to Chariots of Fire as we set out, and to the Northern Exposure theme song as we crossed the Black Hills, silly and road-weary, with our sights set on the border. Then exactly a year later, with gleaming Pro-Tools Certifications under each of our seatbelts, we packed her up and drove all the way back home again.
So you get the idea. Great car, great times, family bonding, etc. About 2 years later, I called Guthrie and said "Well, I'm afraid she's reached the end of her trail, for us anyway..." The repairs were way too expensive to justify, and I sold her for "parts" to my friendly neighborhood Volvo mechanic. I was secretly hoping that he would revive the car and give her a second life. My husband and I bought a beautiful Prius just when the gas prices started to really go up. We said goodbye to The Green Volvo and started the next roadtrip in our new ride.
When my Mama gave her safe-capsule-of-love-Volvo to Guthrie, he started taking it to the same mechanic for oil changes. He would call me from the garage with occasional status reports about The Green Volvo, like "eh, she's still in the junkyard" or "oh, he moved her into the other lot today". Time passes. Then one day last year, winter was approaching and Guthrie went to get his snow tires mounted. He called me from the shop and said, "You'll never believe it! The Green Volvo is back in action! Bill fixed it and sold it to someone nice! It's here in the bay right next to my car and they're still trying to figure out that problem with the electrical system so it will pass inspection." I was happy to know that it would have some more adventures, and Guthrie got a kick out of telling the mechanic about the coincidence.
A winter went by, spring happened, and then about 20 minutes ago, Guthrie called me saying "Hey, check this out, I'm having another reunion here!" He'd gone to get his snow tires removed, and low and behold, there is The Green Volvo getting an oil change right in the bay next to his! The new owner even left the Phish sticker on it. I said, "Hey! send me a picture from your cell phone," which he did. Now check out this sweet sight: our two capsules of adventure and love side-by-side just saying hi to each other again & sharing their stories from another season down the road:
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