99K and counting

For those of you who don't know, we drive a VW TDI Jetta wagon. TDI's are diesel engines and they get much better fuel efficiency than gas engines--we average 47 mpg city/highway and 50+ mpg on straight highway driving. Our 2003 Jetta had 98K miles on it, and it was time for a timing belt change (every 100K miles). Most dealerships are not very familiar with the diesel engines and there are some significant differences, so we prefer to have people work on our car who know and love diesels. To that end, last weekend we drove to Poplar Bluff, MO, for a TDI get-together (GTG). An amazing TDI mechanic changed our TB for about a lot less time and money than it would have been at the dealership, and we are confident that it was done by someone who actually knows what he's doing. He did have a small (very small...really miniscule...but I did help!) amount of help from me (Courtney), and those would be my legs you see sticking out from underneath our car. The white tennis shoes in the background are Mark's. :) He's more of a woodworking guy--built the bunk beds for our kids, etc.--while I love cars. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to actually learn enough to be useful, so what you see in that picture is me replacing the underside of our car after the TB change was done.

We've often received comments from people about the odd things we do. Yes, we do odd things. Always have, probably always will. But we do them together, and that's all that matters to me. :)