I Just Sold My Car
And I’m not going to replace it.
So I just sold my 2015 6-speed manual transmission Volkswagen GTI. I got so much out of that car. It’s been all over the US. Down to Key West, up to Montreal, and back and forth across the continent several times. I drove it in LA, parked it in Manhattan, and let it bake in the Arizona desert. It looked good in the city, and handled itself well on dirt roads too. And the gas mileage was incredible. It was an outstanding vehicle that, for me, represented a continent’s worth of personal freedom.
I thought I would be sad to see it go.
But even now, just a few hours later, I realize that car was holding me back. It was keeping me anchored to places I could drive to. It kept me tethered to highways and gas pumps, and perhaps most importantly, to the US and our peculiar way of life.
In a week or so, I’m going to jump on the train and head east. After a bit of traveling (some of it in other people’s cars), I’ll end up in Manhattan, where a car is nothing but a liability.
And then I can go even further east, to Europe, where the trains can take me most anywhere I want to go.
Like any American lad fortunate enough to have one, my car has always been more than that promise of personal freedom. It was also part of my personality.
