My new life

23 Jan 2011

Updated Sep 29, 2008; adds New Car: "And the Winner Is"...

Jerome, Mingus Mountain Drive, Ceremony...

Saying "goodbye" to Z FILLY at Mingus Mtn Summit; the new "Grayhawk Blues..."

SCOTTSDALE, Sep 11, 2008 - After an appointment in Cottonwood (near Sedona), I decided to drive up to Jerome, cross the Mingus Mtn -

one of my favorite drives in all of Arizona - and then return home via Prescott (to see the route marked in green, click on the Arizona map - right). This time, I stopped at the Mingus Mtn summit for a special ceremony...

But first, here are some views from and of Jerome, an old Arizona mining town (est. 1876) that is now mostly a tourist trap. But it is a trap with beautiful vistas, as you can see...

On the way up Mingus Mtn, it occurred to me that this could be the last time I am driving ZFILLY, my Benz "starship," which is now being offered for sale on Cars.com and eBay, among other places. So I stopped to take a picture of it with the roof down. The temperatures were in the upper 60s at this elevation (6,300 ft) so it was a joy to drive her with the top down.

Once at the Summit (7,000 ft), I took a few more pictures of her. What a marvelous spot for saying a "goodbye," I thought. Even a relationship breakup may go down more easily at beautiful place like this.

The clouds seem that much closer at this elevation, I thought when I looked up. I then picked out a spot for an altar under a young fir tree where I did a ceremony. It was quite delightful.

When I got home and opened my mail, I saw that my new license plate had arrived - APU LUV (see above). So saying goodbye to ZFILLY a few hours earlier was really auspicious, whether or not the car actually sell.

By the way, the tag line "Live the Golden Rule," shown on the license plate at the bottom, is a state of Arizona idea. It is supposed to imply, "do unto others (in traffic) as you would have them do unto you." I just adopted it for my purposes to augment my expression of a shaman's love for the mountain spirits (APU = mountain spirit).

I know, some of you may have heard of another "golden rule:" "He who has the gold - rules." Well, maybe that works in the world of money. But scratch that one in the world of spirits... :-)

SCOTTSDALE, Sep 29, 2008 - Some of you perhaps remember my "Labor Day Resolution" - to put my beautiful convertible up for sale - for the sake of the environment? Here's what I said about three weeks ago:

My Resolution elicited a slew of very interesting responses from my family and friends. Some of them were in jest, others serious buying considerations.

One friend from Canada, for example, wrote, “I hate you! That is such a glorious animal and invokes all kinds of responses in me that don’t exactly resonate with stripping down my lifestyle, doing things in a modest manner, respecting the environment, blah, blah, blah.” He added that he was “sorely tempted to buy it.”

Another friend from Texas went as far as talking to his wife about buying my "beauty and the beast," but was flatly turned down. In the end, he figured divorce would probably be more expensive than even a SL600 Roadster. :-)

Another friend from Canada said he'd love to buy it but cannot afford to anymore, after losing so much money in the stock market.

Other friends encouraged me to keep the car because I don't drive much anyway. "You're on your bike all the time," one of them said. True enough. But I can't get everything done on a bike.

One 10-year old from Paris, France, said to her grandma that "the Mercedes will continue polluting since it will be used by someone else." Several of my adult friends from around the world also voiced the same rational opinion. But some reactions were quite emotional.

One lady-friend from Ohio made an impassioned plea: "Don't do it Bob! That car is beautiful! The universe tells me you need the wind in your hair!"

"You’re so cute," I replied. "The wind in my hair! I get that from riding my bike, too, you know." I added that, my attitude was: “Que sera, sera.” The only thing that will keep my conscience clear is what I am doing… turning things over to “upper management” to decide which car is best for me. "I’ll happily accept their decision either way," I said.

"And the winner is..." - Honda Hybrid! It is just as fuel efficient as the Prius on the highway (45 mpg), a little less in the city. But it doesn't offend my aesthetics as the ugly Prius does. Take a look...

...and again in my driveway the following day. I chose blue because that's also a natural color, like green and brown. After all, both the sky and the oceans are blue. And as you can see next to my blue Schwinn mountain bike (right), the new tandem make up my "Grayhawk blues." :-)

One thing I did not realize is how quiet the ride in a hybrid is. Since much of the time you run on electric power, you barely hear the engine. And every time you stop for a red light or in stop-and-go traffic, the engine turns off automatically. It restarts as soon as you take your foot off the brake. So it's a whole new driving experience, too.

And what about my Mercedes beauty, Z FILLY, as I had named her? Well, it's still there, in the garage, as you can see in the middle right photo above. The "upper management" decision was that I should evidently keep her. Which should make the 10-year old from Paris, as well as my lady friend from Ohio, very happy. For, I will only drive it "on Sundays" or other special occasions, so its "ozone footprint" will be minimal. And I will do it with the roof down, when it gets cooler here in the desert.

So that's it. That's the bottom line, for now, of my car selling and buying adventures. The heavens seemed to rain their sign of approval. They sent an unseasonal "monsoon" just as I was driving my new Honda home from the dealer on Saturday night. It sprinkled some "holy water" on it as if baptizing it.

Now that only thing left to do is to pick a name for this blue "newborn." Any ideas or suggestions?

P.S. I know, it may seem frivolous, if not downright sacrilegious, to talk about buying new cars on a day when the bottom seems to be falling out of the stock market (down 564 points as I write this). But keep in mind that one is for the long-term benefit of the planet, while the other is the cleansing of past sins caused by Old Man Greed (see "Just Say No to Greed 2 - proverbial IT babies being thrown out with Wall St bathwater, Sep 15).

Besides, "one man's loss is another man's gain." This may be a good time for some "bottom fishing." I did it this morning myself... putting my money where my mouth is. But that's not for the faint at heart.