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At the end of February, I had to get rid of my car because it wouldn’t pass an emissions test. They actually wouldn’t even attempt to do the test because of several safety issues that would have to be fixed first. The car wasn’t worth fixing, since I only paid $50 for it, and I’d probably need to spend at least $500 to get it semi-road worthy.

I went without a car for about a month, getting drives to work with a coworker who lives near me. It was nice not having to buy gas or pay for parking, but after a while, I started to get annoyed at not having my own wheels. I was in contact with a guy who was selling his truck, but he wanted to find a replacement vehicle first. After a couple weeks of waiting, he finally found a new car and he sold me the truck.

It’s a 1998 Ford Ranger, and had about 173,000km on it when I got it. It’s a nice little truck, only 2 wheel drive, but has a lot of power with the 4.0L V6 engine. It took a bit of getting used to, since it’s a bit different than driving a car, but I’m really enjoying it now. I hope to put it to good use and I hope it lasts me a long time.

I went to a local Petro Canada to fill up put half a tank of gas in my car the other day and I decided to get a car wash while I was there. Everything was going well until I reached the drying section… The giant air blowers were blowing with such force that the cover for my front driver side blinker blew off. It may have already been cracked, but the thing just flew right off. It was sorta funny.

I went and told the cashier, and he told me to go talk to the ‘car wash technician’ who was really just a high school kid wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat. He went and got my part out of the car wash and I glued it back on when I got home.

Also, when I got home, I realized I had just paid $8 for the worst car wash I’ve ever had. My friend drew a big smiley face in the dirt on my hood sometime last week, and it’s obviously still there after getting the deluxe wash. Not only that, there is also a nice little chip in the paint on my roof…

The car wash is directly beside Oil Changers, and I think I’ll stay away from that particular Petro Canada from now on.

I was at an Esso station a while back, and the pump crashed. Actually, it wasn’t the pump itself, but the advertising system they have on top of each pump. When you start pumping gas, the LCD screen activates and you see commercials and public service announcements. I only wish I got out of the car to take a better picture.

Here’s a story I meant to tell a while ago…

About two months back, it was time for another oil change on the ol’ Taurus. Rather than doing it myself, I took it to my local Oil Changers, which was a bit of a mistake.

Since I got my car in August of 2005, I’ve done all my own oil changes, rather than bringing my car to a shop. It’s not really that difficult to do, and after getting help from my brothers the first couple times, I can now complete the entire process myself in about 20 minutes. Getting the oil and a new oil filter from Canadian Tire costs under $15, so doing it myself saves me money.

Since it was so cold outside and no car will ever fit into my garage, I decided to take my car to Oil Changers to get the oil changed. I figured I would pay an extra $10 or $15, but at least I wouldn’t freeze my hands off in the cold doing it myself.

I got there at about 11 in the morning, and there was only one car ahead of me. While I was waiting, one of the mechanics came by to tell the customer ahead of me that his serpentine belt in his car was cracked, and they recommended replacing it. He declined, saying he would do it next time. When it was my car’s turn, the first thing the mechanic mentioned to me was my belt was cracked and they recommend replacing it. I declined. He then suggested I do an engine flush to clean out all the dirty oil and sludge. It would only cost an additional $79, which is more than I paid for the car. While I’m sure it would be helpful, I declined.

When they were done, and handed me the bill, I was a little unpleasantly surprised. The total came to $42.23! A little pricey for a simple oil change, I’d say. I begrudgingly paid my bill and then went outside where they had parked my car. As I went to open my car door, I noticed my car was rolling ever so slightly… I hopped in, noticed the engine was off, but the keys were still in the ignition and the car was still in drive. I started swearing and they guy who parked my car came out and asked if he left it in neutral or something, as if it were no big deal.

Overall, I would say I was not happy with my experience at Oil Changers. They try very hard to get you to buy extra services and parts that may not be necessary, they are expensive, and judging by the way they left my car “parked”, I’d say they don’t pay much attention to details.

The only good things I can say is that they refilled my wiper fluid, checked my tire pressure and they were very fast. My oil change only took about 5 minutes to complete. I will be doing my own oil changes from now on.

Our trip was a lot of fun and full of some neat adventures. We decided late Friday night that taking Spencer’s car wouldn’t be such a great idea, so we opted for a rental. I called Avis Saturday morning, and they said they would rent me a car for $199, with unlimited kilometers. After taxes and a couple of little fees, the total for the week was just under $240. I opted out of their insurance because Spencer convinced me to call my credit card company and get them to add insurance to my card. For just $29 a year, I am fully covered, so I figured it would be a good deal. Insurance through the rental agency would have been almost that much per day.

We left Whitby around 1pm Saturday and we made it to Winnipeg by Monday morning. We stayed in Sault Ste. Marie the first night and drove through the second night. Since we made it to Winnipeg in such great time, we decided to push on. In the end, we made it all the way to Alberta, spending a night in Banff before driving about 50 hours home.

Avis gave us a 2007 Pontiac G5, and we more than doubled the kilometers on it. By the time it was returned, we had put on 7,501 km on the car in just seven days.

Here’s a few pictures of some of the highlights from the trip: