Time to drop off my little '04 at college

[PropellerHead]

We've shared a lot of road trips on this board. I can't even recall the 1st one, but I know we've been along RT66 at least a few times in my 2004 4.8is. I do recall pictures of my baby girl (born in 2004) who was then too small to sit in the front seat. Ahhh, the memories!

And so, it is as they grow into the front seat and then what seems like a few days later, they're into the *left* seat. My observation here is that getting their own transportation is a fine preparation for the empty nest in a couple years. No more rides to and from soccer, LAX, Golf, school, and wherever else they wanna go ends with the handover of the keys. I've been saying goodbye since that day.

The 1st thing we did to prepare for her departure was to repair a dent she got from an uninsured driver. Of course, if *I* am gonna make a repair on a BMW, I'm gonna choose something very subtle to the unwashed, yet very obvious to those of us what know a thing or two ab BMW's. And don't worry if you don't know about the E82 1 series. Not many folks do. But here's what she brings to school. We bought and drove it from a guy in California. He called the little E82 "Bambi" because of the goofy front eyes. People hate those. Naming it Bambi made the weakness a strength. The plate, 'Bamb1' was her idea. Once she said it, I had no real choice. I just loved the creativity.

After that was complete, I next addressed a frustration that many of us have with teenagers: the nearly dead phone battery. I found a nifty little bit that adds inductive charging to the storage tray on an E82. Two observations:

1) Had I known the console was coming out for install, I would have never done this.
2) Had I realized how slow the charging is, and how inconvenient it is placed, I would have lowered my expectations on the efficacy.

But I didn't, so I went ahead and finished the project. Makes for a cool couple of pics, anyway.

Ug:

All done!

I don't think she's used it since this 1st test.

And that was just a couple things necessary to put my head in the right place. The journey is what it is. Daddy's head isn't even the one that matters.

The last bit of prep for her car was some rear brakes. It's been 207 degrees after 8AM these days, so I decided that the $100 difference in DIY vs service was worth it. I don't have pics of the fairly thorough paint polish and sealant exercise from this past week, but I hope to manage her maintenance needs on her return home rather than something unexpected. Drive an N62 X5 and you'll understand preventative maintenance.

I have more to share. This includes the adventure I've shared here about towing something that isn't a bike rack on the E53.

But for now, I am exhausted. We have a few hundred miles of towing a UHaul again tomorrow. Even as this adventure has been so far relatively problem free, we and the E53 are only 1/2 way done. I'll share soon the story of my 1st ever long haul with the 4.8is.

This does seem like a good place to share the borrowed redneck hitch. Yeah, the X5 is dirty, but with a hitch like this, what ELSE do you expect? More soon on our return to the empty nest: