i know i should be grateful that i had a car to drive between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. i know i should be glad that i didn’t have to walk through the Mojave or ride a donkey through the mountain passes but i’m going to complain a little anyway.

to be truthful, the car–a late ’90s Mitsubishi Mirage powered by a 1.5 liter four cylinder engine that, once upon a time, generated an extravagant 92 horsepower–struggled a bit. okay, it struggled a lot. i spent most of the time cowering in the slipstream of other vehicles, afraid to put the air conditioning on in the 110°F heat for fear that the engine would suffer even more. i watched the speedometer slowly drop as i flogged it uphill, a steady stream of cars passing me by.

but again, i really shouldn’t be complaining. someone was nice enough to lend it to me, it got me safely there, and misery builds character.