The Year in Review – 2019

Beautiful cherry blossoms in our Nation’s Capital. A week of exploring America’s Playground. Standing atop the Rocky Mountains. Venturing far below the ground into the depths of a mine. Discovering a car museum in a Honda dealership. Walking through a castle… in New Jersey.  Ambling between the sunflowers. Hitting the beach. Sitting beside the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe. And much, much more.

Before we turn the page on last year and look toward 2020, I thought it would be fun to revisit the adventures of 2019. I wrote thirty posts last year, chronicling adventures that stretched across ten states. As I did last year, I’m going to begin this post with a list of the ten most popular posts of 2019, as determined by the most reader views. Then, I will give updates on both my Honda Accord and my wife’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, before closing with some fun updates about this blog.

 The 2019 Top 10

10b. Art for Art’s Sake (Tie)

10a. The Mines of New Jersey (Tie)

9. Rocky Mountain High

8. D.C. in Bloom

7. Sunflower Sunday

6. The Great Camps

5. Automotive Potpourri

4. Viva Las Vegas

3. A Man’s Home is his Castle

2. Exit Zero

And the most popular post of 2019 was…

1. Hey Providence

Automotive Updates

My 2012 Honda Accord continues to be the road trip vehicle of choice, taking my wife and I to countless adventures. It ended the year with almost 146,000 miles on the odometer. Through it all, the car has been a reliable vehicle, taking me to my destinations with no drama… just a quiet, safe, comfortable drive (unless I decide to dance with the car on a twisty road… then the Accord perks up like a Yorkshire terrier whose owner has just returned home). In terms of vehicle maintenance and repairs, 2019 was pricy, although a large chunk of that was spent trying to diagnose a mysterious check engine light that turned out to be the stuff of nightmares… more on that below. 

As you can see, the first half of 2019 involved quite a bit of money at the repair shop. I had two check engine lights – the first from two ignition coil packs that were beginning to fail, and a second from what turned out to be a spider nest (full of spiders!) in my evaporative system. Over a third of the vehicle’s maintenance costs were taken up by those two repairs alone. Along the way, the car needed new brakes for both front and rear, although the original front brakes survived for 120,000 miles and the rear brakes were last replaced at 60,000 miles, so I can’t complain about this expense! The car took a set of new tires in late summer, also ballooning the expense report. The second half of 2019 was significantly cheaper, much more in line with what I expect from this car. Despite the price, the higher-then-expected costs are still cheaper than new car payments!

My wife’s 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee (Grace) ended the year with approximately 45,000 miles, including almost 1,200 miles on our holiday road trip to the Midwest. Its maintenance expenses were approximately half as much as my Accord (although it does have less 100,000 miles). Grace proved herself a reliable, comfortable ride with ferocious all-weather handling. However, her repair bills would have been significantly higher owing to a major oil leak that required a new oil filter housing on the engine block. Fortunately, my wife had opted for the extended warranty when she purchased her Grand Cherokee, which turned a $1,000+ repair into a $100 deductible. Hopefully, this is the last repair that the Jeep will need for a while.

Blog Updates

Finally, a fun update about the blog. When I began writing in March of 2016, I started with no expectation of how long the blog would last, or what kind of audience I would reach. A few days before the end of this year, however, I had broken two important barriers: the blog achieved 3,000 unique visitors and 10,000 total views. For everyone who has taken time out of your schedule to read this blog, to comment, to email or text me ideas or feedback… thank you! I am deeply grateful that you would find this hobby of mine worth your time.

Thanks for coming along on this special year-end journey back in time.

‘Til next time.