Our Vehicle History: Brent

Part 1, my car history is back here. Part 3, our history together will be out soon. And this, Part 2, is probably a poor account of what Brent told me, but he won't write it himself. Something to do with that full time job he has and all those extra accounts he works on. I just don't understand what he means when he says "I don't have the time."

Mean while I am spending all his money. I paid for the bike he bought (with the credit card) several weeks ago , bought two plane tickets to Phoenix to my sister's wedding and still have money put back for school tuition that is coming due. The tuition and the bike were from the extra income he has been earning, but the trip is all because of the savings from not driving our cars this month. No gas, no car payment (because we paid it off with other extra income Brent earned this summer), and reduced car insurance=$600 for two plane tickets, one for me, one for my other sister (who's celebrating her golden birthday today). I can't wait to surprise both of my siblings with the news that we will all be together for a wedding.

Back to Brent
During his early teen years Brent biked around his hometown of Ravenswood, WV. He likes to tell a story of working at tomato farm in Ohio, just over the river. He would get up early and bike over the bridge in all conditions to earn his piddly wages. Once he fell asleep while riding. I still can't imagine how this is possible, but he and his mother swear it's true. To make the story more dramatic, he was riding over the bridge when it happened.

At the age of seventeen he got his first set of wheels, a Chevette. He recalls driving it everywhere, ditching the bike, as it was no longer cool and going through a series of vehicles till he moved to Parkersburg, WV. He lived without a car for about a year and half, walking and carpooling with his girlfriend, co workers, neighbors, etc. He then moved to Columbus, OH, again without a vehicle. He choose an apartment blocks from work and a nieghborhood with a high walk score* (should he have checked back in the '90s).

He had a client at work in Columbus who owned a used car lot and  Brent was persuaded to buy an Eagle Talon. He was driving this car when I met him in 2001 and it was this car that was hit on May 23 of that year and deemed a total loss by the insurance company. Thus beginning our car story together.

*For comparison, the Huntingon, WV zip code, 25701 has a walk score of ZERO. Our actual home address here in town has a score of 54/100. What is your walk score?