This is Call Me Donovan, recorded Thursday, June 26, 2025.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Call Me Donovan.
Today is 761 days of alcohol retirement.
So I want to talk a little bit about getting older.
And not necessarily just us getting older,
but things getting older.
Specifically, what I'm going to talk about here are cars and trucks, vehicles getting older.
It's getting expensive.
Let's just put it this way.
It's getting expensive to keep these things running, to keep them dependable.
But it's still currently not as expensive as trying to buy something new.
I don't know about you, but I don't have a spare $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 just lying around to buy a new vehicle or even something stripped down, maybe in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.
I'm specifically talking about our 2003 Ford Explorer.
Last year, I believe it was last year, I had the air conditioner repaired in it because it was giving us some issues.
And while they were in there looking at what it was going to take to repair the air conditioner, they discovered that I think one of the valve covers was leaking oil or another one.
Anyway, they found some problems, they fixed it, they fixed the air conditioner, and all of that ran me roughly about, I think, $2,200, $2,300, somewhere in there.
Then this year, this 2003, which, by the way, only has 77,500 miles on it, roughly.
Let that sink in.
It is a 2003 Ford Explorer.
Bought it for my wife in 2003.
I think I bought it around November.
Honestly, I can't remember.
But at the time, it was $36,000.
$36,000 in 2003.
You can do the conversion if you want to look it up to see what that would be in 2025 dollars.
I'm not doing it right now.
But I got it under one of those 0% for five years.
So for $36,000, I paid zero interest on that vehicle and paid it off in five years.
It's been a fantastic vehicle, but she's getting old.
But you're probably wondering, why does it only have less than 78,000 miles on it?
Quick side story.
When we bought it in 2003, I was working for the city of Tifton, working for the city net department, telecommunications, cable, broadband, TV, et cetera, et cetera.
We were living in Fitzgerald, Georgia.
So I was driving back and forth in my, what year was that, 1995, 95 or 96 Ford Ranger, standard shift, standard transmission and that thing.
So fuel economy was great.
And so my wife, when we had our first child in 1992, we made the decision because you could do these kinds of things.
Just 30 years ago, folks, we made the decision that she was going to quit working.
She was going to become basically a homebody.
She was going to take care of the kids or at that time, the kid.
We had no idea that we were going to eventually have two more.
And so by the time we had all three, this would have been 2003, she previously had a Mercury Tracer and someone on the way home with a car full of kids.
She was trying to make the turn to go down the road that goes to our house there in Fitzgerald at the time.
And somebody behind her wasn't paying attention.
They hit her in the rear, totaled the car.
So for about a year or so, we drove my parents' Suburban.
And if you've ever seen this, these things are monstrosities.
So anyway, taking the long route here.
When we got the 03 Ford Explorer, the only thing that she really needed to do was to go to the grocery store once a week.
And at the time, I don't think we were doing direct deposit with the city.
So I would get a paycheck every two weeks and she would go and deposit that in the bank.
That was it.
Maybe go out and visit her folks.
We would go out from time to time as a family.
But that was it.
That's the reason why there's hardly any mileage on it whatsoever.
Then we moved to Tifton in 2006.
And again, the only thing the vehicle was really used for, because we homeschooled our kids,
the only thing it was used for was to go to the grocery store, go to the bank.
So that's the reason why it's a 2003 Ford Explorer that only has 77,500 and some odd miles on it.
So anyway, this particular vehicle, this year model, all the way, I think they did this all the way through like 2005 or 2008, somewhere in there.
It has what's called a 5R 555 transmission in it.
Look online and you'll see some stories.
So the truck started hesitating when you would put it in reverse, especially after you'd been driving it for a little while.
One day, my daughter and I, we were at the Walmart Supercenter waiting to pick up our groceries.
We got our groceries.
I went to put it in reverse and it didn't move.
And then it did this, like just a jerk.
And I was like, oh no.
And so I looked it up online and basically understood what had happened.
And so I took it to the dealership that always get the oil changes done and all.
And, you know, FYI for transparency, though, I'm not going to name them.
They are one of my clients.
And so that's the reason why they do all of my oil changes and basically all the work on my vehicles that they can do.
They cannot do transmission repairs.
The Ford place here in Tifton cannot do transmission repairs or rebuilds.
There's one company in Tifton, ADCO Transmissions, that does all of it.
So anyway, I got in contact with them.
They gave me a rough estimate, but of course said they really wouldn't know until they got into it.
But we were still looking at somewhere between $2,500 and $3,500.
So last week, took it out there.
They got into it.
They called me Tuesday afternoon and said, this is what it's going to cost.
It'll be ready in the morning.
So it was a little over $3,100.
So in two years, I've spent somewhere between $5,200 and $5,500, quick math, on trying to maintain that vehicle.
And yes, inside, it's got some cosmetic issues.
The side panels are loose and things like that.
And I've had a quote from a body shop on what it would cost.
And that'd be somewhere between $500 and $800.
And that's not even new parts.
That's going and finding stuff on used vehicles.
Hopefully, it's in good shape.
So hopefully, that'll keep the old girl going for at least another 10 years.
And that'll put me basically at $65,000 at that point.
And I have seen that it's always recommended that you wait and buy your very last brand new vehicle somewhere between $60,000 and $65,000.
Honestly, if you are lucky enough that you can pay cash for it, that's even better.
But the point is, that's going to be the vehicle that you probably still have when you die.
So we shall see.
In our stable of vehicles, like we have a crap ton of them, we have the 2003 Ford Explorer.
We have my 2013 Ford Focus.
And if you know anything about the transmissions and those, then you should probably pray for me.
I've had it towed to the dealership, the Ford dealership, twice in the last four years.
There's just something that this is, I think they only did this transmission maybe four, maybe five years before they finally got it through their thick skulls, that what they were attempting to do, whatever the design was, it was just really dumb.
Because it's essentially a manual transmission that is shifted by computer.
So it's built, it's a, quote, automatic transmission.
I think it's a six speed.
But it's like if you had a little computer sitting there between your seats while you're driving and it's shifting for you.
So that's the way I have, I've seen it referred, is a manual transmission that is automatically shifted by computer.
Anyway, something is really screwed up with the design.
The first time I had an issue with it, we were at, we were driving to the Walmart marketplace to pick up groceries.
And we stopped at a stoplight and then we started and the vehicle just kind of jerked and I couldn't get over roughly about 35 miles per hour, 35 or 40 somewhere in there.
And so we got to the marketplace, we got, we got into our parking spot, we got our groceries.
I went to put it in reverse.
There was no reverse.
The car would not go in reverse.
I had to get my daughter to get in the driver's seat.
And I had to get out and push us out to the point where we could at least drive forward.
That was the first time.
The second time, I don't remember exactly where we were, but it was, it was a similar scenario.
And so then I had to have it towed again.
And this time they, they needed the TCM transmission control module, but we were coming off the pandemic.
And so supplies, they were just difficult to get.
And so I think they had it about a month, month and a half.
The upside was every recall that had been issued for that vehicle, they did while it was there.
So I've also had to have the air conditioning.
Uh, I think, um, I've had to have the AC repaired on that one as well, but it was a, um, it was, it's basically the AC motor on it just quit working or something.
So that was only a few, about $300 or something.
That was a couple of years ago.
And then we have my sons, my middle sons, um, 2003 Ford Ranger submarine, submarine yellow.
It, you know what I mean?
You know, yellow submarine.
So yeah, as you can see, we have nothing that has a warranty still in effect on it.
And now my car could use new tires because it's, it's actually, my car has 85 or 88,000 miles on it.
It's a 2013 and it has more mileage than our Explorer.
Somewhere around about 25 or 30,000 miles.
I can't remember exactly where I was, but I think it was around 2018 because my wife had a blowout on the Explorer.
And to be fair, those were, this was in 2018.
So those were the original tires from 2003.
All right.
Think about that.
So she had a blowout on the way to work.
So I got her to work.
I got brand new tires put on it.
And then the next day I got brand new tires put on my car.
They were supposed to be 60,000 road hazard, uh, tires.
Well, we're at the 85 to 88,000.
I think the last time I had the oil chains, one or two of the tires are in the yellow.
The way they check the, the, uh, tread depth, say that three times fast, tread depth.
And so we're looking at about $600 to put tires on the car.
So, you know, this just goes to show you maintaining as you get older,
can get very expensive.
And I guess the last thing that I want to quickly mention is this fricking heat dome, man.
I mean, it's, it's, it's rough.
Today's not as bad as it was yesterday.
And fortunately in my job, I get to stay in air conditioning most of the time.
And the reason why that's a great thing is because yesterday our temperatures here were right at a hundred degrees with an index of, of somewhere between 105 and probably 108 on your radio dial.
No, um, today it's currently 90, uh, it's around four o'clock in the afternoon as I'm recording.
This is currently 90 with an index of 91.
So not as bad, but yesterday afternoon, as rough as it was, we had this quick little rain shower.
And, you know, that's, it's nice.
You want the, you want a rain shower to kind of cool everything off.
And I opened my office door, which I had kept my door closed because the cong, the sun bouncing off of our driveway, our driveway is concrete.
That heat will come through my, my door and my air conditioning unit.
It's a mini split, uh, in hindsight, probably shouldn't have positioned it the way we did many, many, many years ago.
It should be on the wall, the same wall that the door is on and blow inward.
But instead it's on a wall that's perpendicular and blows across.
Yeah.
Crazy.
Not worth the cost of trying to get it moved.
So anyway, uh, hell it routinely stays like right now it's probably around 78, 79 degrees in here.
I'm comfortable.
Some of you will probably melt to death, but I'm comfortable.
But yesterday after that rain, I opened the door and as soon as I walked out, I was, it was just like walking into a wall of hot, humid air.
It was, oh, it was nuts.
And so you can deny it all you want if you're one of those.
And I, I sincerely hope that any of you that listened to this are not, but climate change is real.
You know, it is a real thing.
It's not a hoax.
It's real.
I have never in my 55 years being on this planet have seen the amount of storms that have, I mean, the severity of storms, not, not, not necessarily just the number of storms per year, especially, but you know, in the, we're in the hurricane season.
But the number of storms and the severity of the storms of the last decade to two decades, you got to, man, your brain must be made of cement.
If you think that climate change is not real.
I'm just saying, not, not to offend you, but there are just some things I think you need to be offended.
And, uh, if that offends you, then, well, I'm not sorry.
Anyway, I think that's going to wrap it up, uh, for this little episode.
Again, uh, appreciate you taking the time to listen to, uh, basically just little reports of what's going on in my life and et cetera, et cetera.
You know, uh, basically, uh, middle-aged is 55 still considered middle-aged now, middle-aged white dude, been married for 35 years, has three adult kids, lives in South Central Georgia, who's also an atheist, by the way.
And I live right smack in the middle of the Bible belt, but you know what?
I still like most people.
I like you because you're listening.
Anyway, uh, love to hear from you.
Uh, you can leave me a voicemail by going to callmedonovan.com slash voicemail.
You can email me, Don, at callmedonovan.com.
Again, that's Don, at callmedonovan.com.
And, uh, yeah, that's pretty much it.
So until next time, uh, take care of yourself.
Um, if I don't record something before, probably won't, but 4th of July is next Friday.
I want to caution everybody, uh, to be safe with fireworks.
If you have pets, probably is going to be a good idea to go ahead and try to get them inside.
Uh, or sequester them somewhere where they're not freaking out because you know, your neighbors,
whether you love them or not, they're going to be people in your neighborhood.
That's going to be shooting off fireworks until probably midnight.
So, uh, think of the animals, think of the kids, just be a good neighbor.
Anyway, that's it for now.
Take care of yourselves and we'll talk soon.
Bye.
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