In New York State, the Department of Motor Vehicles will “kindly” send you an alert that your car either needs its yearly inspection sticker, or that your car needs its biannual registration.
Yesterday, I took care of renewing my 2017 Chevrolet Volt Premier’s inspection. $21 later, Lightning’s Girl had a fresh new sticker on the windshield, and remains street legal. According to the post-inspection paperwork DeNooyer Chevrolet provided me, my car passed every inspection point. Tires have good treads, brakes are tip top, no worries about fuel emissions (yes, it’s a hybrid PHEV, so it does take gas, so I had to have an emissions test), in fact – no worries about anything on the car.
Sweet.
And as I drove off the DeNooyer parking lot that morning, I thought about how far this car and I have traveled. We’ve done several eclipse chases – a lunar eclipse to Baldwsinsville NY in 2022; a solar eclipse to Newport, VT in 2024. We’ve done two Canadian Pacific / CPKC Holiday Train chases. We’ve navigated to New York City and to the Adirondacks and to all sorts of places together.
This is great. Trust me, this car checks all my personal boxes. It was made in America by union men and women who earned a union wage. It minimizes my carbon footprint by operating both electrically and sipping – not guzzling – fuel. It’s comfortable and holds all my camera equipment.
Now that’s not to say that there haven’t been mechanical issues along the way. But these mechanical issues were either easily mitigated by Chevrolet’s all-encompassing PZED warranty (15 years or 150,000 miles), or they were matters that required simple routine maintenance (all cars need good tires, good brakes, and good windshield wipers).
And here I am. Three years into ownership of Lightning’s Girl, the car I nicknamed after a waycool Nancy Sinatra track. Yeah. This works for me.
I’ve also developed a seemingly uncanny nose for charging ports. Since I have to rely on public charging stations (my apartment doesn’t have a dedicated off-street garage), I’ve enjoyed the ability to charge throughout the Capital District on nearly every Gen 2 charger (J1772 port) I can find. Oh, look – there’s a charging port at the Saratoga Harness track. Oh, look – there’s a charging port at the Honest Weight Food Co-Op. Oh, look – I can charge in the parking lot before New York Phoenix home games. Oh, look – there’s a row of chargers near the movie theater at Crossgates Mall.
Yeah. Works for me every time.
Trust me. Sometimes, when you get a car, you’re not sure if it’s “the right car.” You’re not sure if it’s your “forever car.” You either drive it with the nagging thought in the back of your subconscious that someday you’ll trade up or trade out.
Not me. Not with Lightning’s Girl. I’m counting on this chariot to be my all-time car.
And I’m totally fine with that.
Chuck The Writer 