The Great Junkyard in the Sky

Nebraska to Utah,

Lake Powell to Vegas,

LA to NY,

DC to New Orleans,

Louisiana to Montana,

Whitefish to Seattle.

The Jetta has passed

and has been passed by

her last car.

She will be missed.

My heart lurched with the Jetta as the transmission clunk-clunked

at Snoqualmie, the final mountain pass before entering Seattle.

That smell of burning lubricants on hot engine wafted in

as her tranny fluids spilled over the highway.

We were lucky to make it to my friend's place.

The transmission transfusion failed.

After the fifth time she slipped out of gear and refused to slip back in,

during a valiant attempt to go to an art store downtown Seattle,

I knew it was time to pull the plug.

The auto doctors concurred.

How was I going to tell my wife? Ugh!

Fortunately, the Jetta was an organ donor

and through America's Car Donation Charities Center

her working parts will be collected to raise money

for W.O.M.A.N. (Women Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent)

plus they'll give us a tax-deductible receipt and tow the car for free.

Here are my final pics of her as I said good-bye

before catching the train back to Whitefish.

We may post more stories about the Jetta in the future as remembering is part of the grieving process for us and if any of you have your own memories of her, please jot 'em down in the comments, we'd love to read them. Thanks for your thoughts and support!