PEORIA MAGAZINE March 2022

O N E M O R E T H I N G

ONE LAST, EMOTIONAL RIDE 249,059 miles and a million memories

BY PHIL LUCIANO

S ometimes, it’s hard to say goodbye to a special gal. She came into my life during hard times, keeping me going when I faced a dead end, never failing to guide me in the right direction. She was lively, tenacious, faithful. She was a Lexus ES 330. And we just took our last ride together. Sniff, sniff. Excuse me, but I think

her for two reasons: 1) I had recently wrecked my previous car, and 2) the price tag was inexplicably affordable. I dare not call her “used,” as the label sounds tawdry for a lady. Though she had one owner in her earliest four years, I always tried not to think about her shadowy and mysteriouspast,whenshespent time in the hands of another. Regardless, we clicked almost immediately and spent 14 years together.

there’s something in my eye. Look, I’m not going to apologize for getting emotional about a car. If you’ve been there -- up and down highways and byways with a car for so long that you wore palm impressions into comfortable spots on the steering wheel -- you know what I mean. I know “Lexus” might conjure visions of luxury, but minewas amere mid-size sedan, indistinguishable from a jillion others like her. I bought

94 MARCH 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE