Introducing Phoebe

Meet Phoebe

When I was in college, my brother and I combined our money, $1000 each, and bought a used Honda Civic to share. Being honors students and learning all about Greek mythology, which had not been in our curriculum until then, we named our little blue-and-gray set of wheels Socrates. That car was beautifully dependable, even after the heating and air conditioning eventually failed. He just kept trucking along those Washington state roads. Socrates eventually was handed off to another family member, and I never did hear of his demise.

In the meantime, my mom had given me her white VW Rabbit, a car that we named Mephistopheles. Meph took me from college to two years of teaching on the Oregon coast, and then down to California. There, he got me dependably along the freeways to and from my classes for my masters degree, and then to and from the school where I was hired to teach. I eventually sold him off to a classmate from my graduate studies, a principal who could care for Meph's increasing coughs and burps.

That was when I bought Alexa the Honda Civic, my first brand new car. She was a delight! I drove that car over 110,000 miles, many of them to supervise student teachers as I taught in Northern California. Other than getting her brakes redone a time or two because of the hilly driving, she never needed much care besides her oil, gas, windshield wiper blades and windshield washing fluid refills.

Caleb

Just a couple of months before I got married, I sold Alexa to a couple of college lads, brothers who were buying their first car. And I bought Caleb the Honda CRV, naming him for his name's meaning--Bold--because I was just going into a new phase of life: new marriage, new home, new job, new town.

Caleb had 4-wheel drive, a mercifully helpful feature in this north country where the roads can get icy and the snow is challenging at least a time or two each winter. I've always been safe when the sturdy little Caleb was carrying me to my destination. When I stepped into my current job, which provided the benefit of driving a college vehicle, I sold Caleb to them and kept driving him as my car.

Over time Caleb's gotten chips in his windshield and paint from rock-flinging semi trucks, a cyclist ran into the driver's side door and bent it a bit off its alignment, and the rubber around the doors has deteriorated, resulting in worse and worse road noise. At 75,000 miles we administrators are supposed to trade out cars, making sure that we're driving cars with higher reliability. After carrying me on countless trips to Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and even Montana, Caleb had racked up nearly 83,000 miles, and it was time.

Enter Phoebe, the Toyota Highlander. Her name means "bright," or "bright moon," depending on what source I consult with.  She came to me a couple of weeks ago, used with 23,000 miles on her, and it's a pleasure to drive her (although I still need to get comfortable with parallel parking a bigger vehicle). Her name is found both in the Bible and in Greek mythology, which continues the tradition I've built up over time. She had plenty of leg room, and that ever-important 4-wheel drive for the winters. Other than Socrates, Phoebe is the first car I've owned that isn't white. I like her dark grey-green color. But of course it has rained dust twice in the 2 weeks I've had her, and that's more noticeable on a grey-green car than on a white one. Such are the hazards of living in an agricultural valley.

Who knows what new places Phoebe will take me. I look forward to finding out!