Odometers... you used to be able to see them all the time as they clicked over a mile at a time, waiting for those milestones of your car's life, 40,000 then 50,000 and on. My more recent cars have reached the 100,000 point and beyond.. the 1984 Dodge Omni died at 84,000, my 1979 Triumph Spitfire had to be retired for a practical car when I joined the workforce. Since then, my 1990 Nissan Maxima was traded in at 205,000 miles for the 1999 Nissan Maxima I currently drive.

Well, yesterday while driving, for some reason I decided to switch over the display from the trip odometer (which is always on, showing me how I am doing on this particular tank of gas) to the overall display. It had just passed 180,000 miles... I missed it by probably a few minutes... oh well. Thinking back I realized that I was still married when I got this car... two years later I was separated, a few years after that divorced.. and now here I am at 8 years of owning this car. It has taken me to the Outer Banks, Rehoboth, and Ocean City on vacations, faithfully delivered me to work and back - day in and day out, escorted me on dates, tolerated the dust and debris of numerous horse farms. It only complained once.. when I stuck its nose into the back of an SUV one day, but that was soon rectified by my insurance company.

Some fellows get very attached to their cars, very protective. Maybe if I had a $60,000+ vehicle, I might?.. but then what would I drive to the horse farm? Am I attached to my current car? Well, it has been a good car... very few problems for all those miles. So to mark this mileage landmark... I washed it... something else that doesn't happen very often!

Now I just need to get the footprints back on the windshield, the bits of straw on the floor, and a pair of riding boots in the back seat, so all feels normal again. :-)