Adventures with Ethan And Cheryl And Silver Bullet Subie

Goodness!   What a day.   I would describe an adventure as when you are in a situation that is exciting, dangerous, scary, and the ending of said adventure is always in doubt!   That is where Cheryl and I found ourselves in...yet again.

The plan was simple:  Limp Subie to the mechanic and get him fixed.   I managed to get him home from Iowa City two days ago... I should be able to get him back there in a similar fashion.

Well,   Subie's condition did not change.   I managed to get it started, and we managed to get it moving.   He was sluggish with the acceleration, but at times, managed to get to 60 MPH.

The problem was the hills.   Cheryl noted the rather steep hill at Cosgrove Rd.  For a brief moment, I actually thought I could take it.  I wanted to avoid the "busy" road of Hyw 1,  so I really wanted to stay to the back farm roads.   But....

Subie never made it up that hill.  He did not stall, mind you.   He simply refused to climb.   I have no clue what was going on.  So...off to plan B.
Somehow,  the busy roads were more forgiving than I thought. We nearly had to push him through the final intersection before the auto shop, but Subie managed it on his own.   Yeah!
That being said,  I was not eager to have to go through that again!   The Auto place was booked up for the day and the guy said he might be able to see it last thing.....  Subie was staying the night.

Fortunately for us,  the guy loaned us his Volkswagen Bug.   It is a manual, so I was excited to give it a go.   It as been a while since Misty Dawn Subie died, and I have not had the opportunity to drive a stick since then.

Volkswagen Shifter.  Really?

German Engineering!   Is not everything people think it is.  And let me simply say that I will stick with my Subaru.  I remember hearing a car critic say that everything in a Subaru simply "makes sense!"   It's true!   Everything is right where you think it should be.  But not so in a Volkswagen.

Makes more sense!

I was having trouble with the shifter.   I thought it was unusual that the reverse was so close to first gear.   Not wanting to accidentally slip it in reverse,  I found the far left gear and slid over one.  Only problem with that is....that was third gear!
I vaguely remember watching a youtube video where they mentioned this.   I thought,"So what?   What's the big deal?"   And then it happened to me.    Thankfully I did not burn out the clutch trying to get the car rolling from third gear.  
Still,  I had to back out of the parking space from HyVee.   I simply tried every gear and still could not find Reverse!   Because Reverse.....is directly UNDER FIRST GEAR!  You have to push down...( something not even hinted at anywhere on the stick!)  and then slip it into first gear...waiting for the R gear to catch.  Very strange and annoying....
After figuring that out, I was able to shift things normally,   But WOW!   Way to make your first time Volkswagen users feel and look stupid! I don't like a car that is so elitist that I can't figure out how to start or shift it simply by using common sense.

Other than that,  Cheryl ran 13.5 miles today.   What else could we do?   Our car is sick, our cat is injured,  our bank account continues to dwindle over things we have no control over.  What better way to run out the demons than to run...run far.... run long.

Eagle one

Flock of Deer run across the trail

We were blessed with some wildlife sightings today.  Eagles and deer abound!   Trying to capture either of them is still a challenge with the Smart phone.  But it is still better than the old Nikon.

Behind the lovely bush...

The ONLY one with leaves still attached. 

On the way back,  Eagle gained a friend.

At least the ice is gone!   And now we have the entire day to relax and wait for the verdict on Subie.  Will it be an O2  sensor?   Replaced Throttle Cable?   Or Crankshaft Control Sensor....Or something worse?   We brace for impact....