The Mighty Exploder

On Friday, I left work at noon to go pick our 1998 Explorer up from getting an oil change. We were going to pack right after that and be off for a weekend in Iowa City. Alas, when I arrived, Dan the Pro Brake Man told me there was no way we could drive the truck, because the rear axle is going out. Could go out, in fact, at any moment.

I called my beloved, and, after he finished cursing, we discussed the option of driving our 1994 Geo Prizm (136k miles and ticking) the 5.5 hours to Iowa City each way. Unfortunately, the Geo is so old the backseat middle belt is like an airplane belt and doesn't lock automatically, rendering it not an ideal candidate to hold the carseat in place. Either we were going to have to rent a car or stay home.

We decided to rent a car. This only took 1.5 hours and a lot of angst. We ended up, ironically, with another Explorer. Dan thinks it will only cost around $1400 for the part and two hours (whatever that translates to) for the labor. My beloved says it's not worth it, because the truck isn't worth that much. However, on the way home, I was listening to Car Talk, and Click said that you should compare the cost of repairs to the cost of a new car, not to the value of the old car. If that is true, I'm a genius after pouring around $2k in the past two years into the Geo, which has a Blue Book value of $1580. See? I am smart.

So today my beloved is returning the rental and trying to figure out what to do about this rear-axle problem. I'm inclined to keep the car, because the thought of buying another huge, monster vehicle so close to Christmas is more paralyzing to me than coughing up thousands to fix it. Why? I am completely adverse to debt. I would live in a teepee if my beloved would let me. I'm strange. Other people buy new cars and new houses and feel GOOD about their decisions. I stay up at night wondering what would happen if we both lost our jobs tomorrow. I know this is not normal, but I can't help myself. Why can't I join the disposable nation?