My 2008 Hyndai Sonata

I just broke the 200,000 mile mark in my 2008 Hyundai Sonata. The most amazing part about it is that after driving all those miles, this car has never broken down or needed any repairs other than basic maintenance (oil changes, tires, spark plugs once, battery once). I've known many people who drove their car more than 200,000 miles, but usually the car needed several repairs in that time.

Not only that, but I haven't exactly treated this car very well. I've been good about oil changes, but let's face it: I have treated this car pretty roughly. It's primarily been a work vehicle and has had 6 foot ladders jammed into it, been driven off road, slammed into snow banks, and the front bumper is literally held together with wire ties (as a result of my snow adventure). Not only that, but I have also loaned out my car to several of the young whippersnappers at our church for thousands of miles on end for both church and business related uses. Some of them did not drive it as gently as I do . Yet, 200,000 miles later, it still runs great and has never broken down! Either God has supernaturally blessed this vehicle, the Hyundai Sonata is a super-reliable car, or both!

In addition, back when I was traveling a lot, I slept in my car approximately 200 times (one year I actually counted, and it came out to 65), usually with the engine running. That means that for hundreds of hours the engine was running in the "Hyundai Hotel" a.k.a. "Sonata Suites" without even logging any miles on the odometer! Yet the car still runs like new!

Well, this weekend I had my first car trouble with this car. However, it can't be blamed on the car or the Koreans who built it since it was completely my fault. I was stretching my legs on a long drive and accidentally kicked the sensor on the brake pedal and broke it. This caused the speedometer to go to zero and the check engine light to come on. It also would not allow me to shift the car from drive to park or vice versa without pushing the shift lock release button with a screwdriver. I tried to put it back together, but it was too broken. I continued to drive the car like that until I could get it to a Hyundai dealer. The replacement part was only $7.58! I installed it myself, replaced the fuse (the car came with 3 spares), and my car was back to normal.

When this car finally gives up the ghost, I will probably just turn around and buy another Hyundai Sonata because this car has been great.

Stranded in the Snow!!!

Yesterday, I drove through a snowstorm all the way from El Paso, TX, to Santa Rosa, NM, only to get there and find the I-40 eastbound onramp shut down. I was trying to get to Amarillo, TX, to do a job, and I had even already booked a hotel for the night in Amarillo.

I decided to try to take an alternative route (famous last words) and found myself travelling alone on a lonesome highway in the middle of nowhere. At first things were going pretty well, but then I kept running into some very deep patches of snow and snow drifts. My Hyundai Sonata 4-cylinder car was miraculously able to keep going through all the snowy roads, but I just wasn't sure how long this would last. My cellphone and GPS still had signal so at least I was able to make sure that I wasn't getting super-far from the interstate or civilization.

After about 35 miles I noticed a ranch house by the side of the road with the lights on, so I pressed reset on the odometer trip counter so that if I got stuck I would know how far back it was. The road seemed to be getting better, and I was cruising right along, but then all of the sudden I came plowing into some really deep snow on an uphill incline and got completely stuck right in the middle of the road. It was 9:00pm.

I spent about 40 minutes trying to dig myself out, so that I could at least reverse back the way I came and get to the ranch house, but there was no use. I finally realized that it wasn't going to work, and that it was only getting later, colder, and windier the longer I waited. I switched into survival-mode and layered on every piece of clothing that I had with me in the car. I hadn't even planned on spending a night out of town when I left the house, but thankfully I still had some extra clothes with me in the car (having a messy car sometimes pays off because you always have what you need for survival). I then packed my laptop, cellphone, and GPS into my backpack and set out.

I abandoned the car and set out for the ranch house which my odometer told me was 1 and 1/2 miles away (had I not known exactly where I was going it would have been safer to stay with the car until morning). The house was very well lit so I hoped that I wasn't waking anyone up when I knocked on their door after 10 o'clock at night.

A young couple came to the door and were a little bit shocked to see ANYONE out in the middle of nowhere where they lived in this kind of weather! The young man called his dad who lived 8 miles away to bring over his 4-wheel drive to come and pull my car out. It took us a little while, but we finally were able to pull the car out. I then drove it about 10 miles to the rancher's house where I was put up in a nice guest house for the night.

And that's where I am right now as I write this post!

In a few hours the rancher is going to have the worst part of the road back to Santa Rosa (the way I came in last night) somewhat cleared because his son is also heading that way later to go to a rodeo somewhere near Albuquerque. Then I can get on the I-40 westbound in Santa Rosa and head back to Phoenix (east is still closed).

I'm just going to have to do my job in Amarillo on another trip. In the words of the rancher who I'm staying with, I'm like the mouse who no longer wants the cheese, I just want out of the trap!