Christina Dulude

My 1991 Toyota Corolla gave up the ghost recently. At the end of August, I took it into the shop for a basic tune-up, and was shocked when the mechanic called and said that I had an additional $1400 worth of additional repairs that should be done. That is almost as much as I paid for the car when I bought it four or five years ago.

Needless to say, I flipped out because I am very distrustful of mechanics as it is. So I took the car to the service department of the Toyota dealership for a second opinion, and they basically concurred. They also said if I was considering getting a new car, this would be the time to do it.

I was actually relieved to hear this — I had been considering buying a new car for a while, but always felt guilty because the Corolla basically ran (although I use that term somewhat loosely).

I knew I wanted a small, fuel-efficient, reliable car. I was originally considering a used 2003 or 2004 Toyota Echo, but there are apparently relatively few of them for sale in Indiana. I test drove one 2003 Echo, and was less than thrilled with it for a variety of reasons.

I had been interested in the Scion off and on for a while. It’s a new line from Toyota, targeted at the “youth market.” And the xA model is essentially a hatchback Toyota Echo. Scions have been available in the US a little over a year, and in Indiana only since June. And as it turned out, a new Scion costs about the same as a comparably equipped recent model Toyota Echo.

Also, Scion has a so-called “pure pricing” policy — you pay the sticker price, and there’s no haggling or bargaining. I really liked this, because I was car shopping by myself and I’ve never bought a new car before, so I’d probably be overcharged in the usual car-buying situation.

So this week, I bought a brand new Scion xA. Upon seeing this pic, my mom says it looks like a “toy car.” My brother says it looks like a “baby’s sneaker” (?). I think it looks like a cross between a small PT Cruiser and a Mini Cooper.

I’ve been doing a lot of outdoorsy things recently. Two weekends ago, I went kayaking on the White River north of Indianapolis, with my friend Chris and a bunch of his other friends. Afterwards we camped out at a nearby campground.

This past weekend, I went on a hiking/camping trip with Adam and the hiking club. We went to Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana, the section almost on the Kentucky border. On Saturday, we hiked the Two Lakes Trail. We estimated we hiked over 14 miles, but not the 16 miles listed on that website.

These photos are some signs in the campground where we stayed. These signs sported rather interesting logic (and use of quotes):

1. “Wood” for sale. As in, fake wood? Like a Duraflame?
2. This campground “closed.” It’s either closed, or it’s not. There is no “closed.”
3. No garbage in trash can, please. Well, curiosity got the best of me, and I peeked inside the trash can. And you’ll never guess what was inside it. That’s right — garbage.