Here comes the Sun...(doo do do doo)

Yeah, it's that bright. The Camry lasted a week from the fix, but it might be salvageable, but not for a while. Plan B was initiated and I am no longer driving a ticking steam bomb. I now drive a screamin' yellow school bus, a 2007 Nissan Xterra. It's what I wanted if I were to buy a new car, and bam. They had it. The Solar Yellow color is hard to come by, but my dad found one in Augusta, and drove it up when the Camry bucked the kicket this past Friday.

There are all sorts of reasons why I wanted this particular light-SUV, but probably the most prominent are nostalgia, and trust in the brand. My parents were the first in our entire extended family to purchase an SUV of any sort, a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder. Now, there's something you have to understand about crossover Filipino accents. For some reason, F's get replaced with P's and P's get replaced with F's. So to my beloved maternal grandmother, the Pathfinder was affectionally called..... the ForthPinder. The 4thPinder took my family and I all across the Midwest and Eastern United States. Count in about a million trips to our trailer-camper in Wisconsin, the numerous IL-GA trips, and the ol' girl had near about a quarter million miles when we retired her to the charity auto donation(tax break!) in 2004. So, she never really died. Sure in her twilight she had her share of problems, a funny way of shifting (she was an automatic!), her AC gave up at 2001 (I learned to live without AC). Then there were the mistakes that my brother and I made. He backed her into at least 3 of my friends cars...I broke her passenger side mirror, and dented the door. She was broken into twice in a two month period during my last stint @ Georgia Tech. All this... and the engine never gave us a major problem. Master brake cylinder was about the only major repair she needed. There was a transmission recall once, but as long as the factory fixes something I don't count it against the car. All the history of the 4thPinder gave my family enough confidence in the company to purchase the 2004 Nissan Altima 3.0 for my mom, which my sister ended up being the primary driver. The Altima is a great experiance, maybe because they got the upper ended V6 model is why we've enjoyed it. But that's the secret it seems...

Turns out the 2007 Xterra happens to have the latest iteration of the most solid performing V6 motor in the last twelve years. The design is so versitile it powers all of Nissan's V6 needs from sedans, to super-sports, to trucks/lightSUV's. It's weird thinking that the SUV I now drive shares the same basic engine design as their sports car, the 350Z.

So, I have a reliable car, it's got everything I need, and nothing I don't. I have to drive to Augusta to get some sidestep rails installed, but other than that I'm pretty much set. Now, the boyhood urges of adding an even more bitchin' (yes, bitchin') stereo/speakers, GPS navigation, fog lights, winch(just kidding!). Do they make bobble-head computer nerds? That would be awesome, if you find one, I'll buy it off you.

I shot my other summer wedding this weekend, and even in the 95 degree weather I did not melt in the bus, and the Yellow did not blow up. I <3 you Yellow Bus. Speaking of anthropomorphic vehicular identity... You need a name besides Yellow Bus. Let's see, you're Blond, you're tall, beautiful, versatile and bold. I'll call you Charlize!

Anybody wanna go for a ride?