When Sarah was a young adult- maybe still in college, she purchased a used Suzuki Samurai. It is a jeep-like vehicle, only smaller. Sarah LOVED that car! She told me that she once tried to drive it over some railroad tracks. It was not a proper road, so her little Samurai had to climb over the RR ties, then over the rails. She got the front tires over the first rail. They had not yet gotten enough grab on the ground again as her rear wheels pushed her over when the Samurai got stuck. When she got out to evaluate the situation, the car was teetering with either the front or rear wheels on the ground, but not enough umph to get it over the rail in either direction. She had a friend with her and they spent a bit of time rocking it back and forth enough to get it moving again. She drove it with the top off as much as possible and it made her particularly happy when it rained.
She replaced it with a brand new Toyota Celica (which she also loved), but she kept the Samurai wanting to fix it more or maybe just not willing to let it go. She was living in Indianapolis at the time. After a couple of years, she moved with her (first) husband, Cody, to Atlanta. The Samurai was shipped along with their other belongings. In Atlanta, she got divorcedThe best stories seem to begin or end with “Sarah and I”. I was down there helping her regroup and we had a deadline to get the Samurai off of Cody’s property. A tow truck? Expensive. Repair it enough to drive? Not enough time. We decided to tow it ourselves with a rented pickup truck and rope. I had done this a couple of times as a young adult. It is not the safest thing to do, but we needed to do something. We rented the truck and did a wal-mart run.
Rope? check. Window paint? check. By this time it was approaching rush hour. The Samurai had to be moved from one side of Atlanta to another. I was “driving” the vehicle in tow. No flashing lights on the Samurai (dead battery), just wrote IN TOW on the back window. Sarah drove the rented truck. lt was a bit of push pull to get it out from where it was parked under a deck onto the road. Next thing I know, I am riding helplessly in the Samurai as Sarah pulled me down the road at about 50MPH. Yikes! I don’t recall if I was able to signal her to stop, or if I called her or I just jumped out at a traffic light. I asked her if she ever did this before, thinking she had. Nope. Sarah, we HAVE to go slow! 25 mph MAX. 15-20 mph better. We debated the interstate shoulder? City streets? If you have never experienced the traffic in Atlanta, it is BAD, BAD, BAD. This coming from a Jersey driver. I guess driving in Manhattan would be the closest thing. Vehicles randomly stopping in both the right lane and the left lanes as they have no left turn lanes. They also have no shoulder, so anyone turning right has no place to go as they slow to a near stop to make the turn.
We got the Samurai to her new place and we both lived to tell the story. She then sadly put the Samurai up for sale and was very happy when a young man bought it who loved Samurais.
Remember Sarah Slack 