[Fat Charlie]

Well, the Spaulding Bobsled is on it's way to scrap camp. She's tired and creaky, has plenty of electrical gremlins and has some serious engine issues. Then the clutch started going. I could ignore or compensate for a lot, but I can't convince a clutch that isn't there to do its thing. It's not worth throwing money a the clutch without digging into the rest, and for a daily driver with 207,000 miles I just can't see sinking the money into it.

So I've been in the old Xterra this week and just about crying because I've only been geting 16-17 mpg out of it. Then yesterday I topped off because I mistakenly zeroed my odometer and wanted to get a baseline tank ASAP, and I calculated over 20 mpg. Then I realized that the UG was still calibrated to the Bobsled and I had told it the Albatross had a 3.5 instead of a 3.3.

So things aren't as bad as I thought, even though they're 20% worse than a dying Subaru. What it really means is that I don't have to buy a car this weekend. I hate getting stuck with whatever happens to be on the lot that day, and I can look around. When you insist on a manual, that makes a world of difference.