A Salute to the Matrix

Back in August 2008, right before a major turning point in our relationship (our decision to move in together), Michelle purchased her first brand new car. It was a 2009 Toyota Matrix XR in silver. Very shortly afterward, I drove up to Edmonton during a stretch of days off to drive Michelle and a friend of hers down to their new place in Vancouver -- about 1200km to the SE for those who don't know Western Canada. The plan was to pack the Matrix up to the gills with their stuff and take it on the long journey to the best coast.

And so we went, departing around 1pm, if I recall; and for some reason, I remember picking up a Philly cheese steak pizza from Panago near Michelle's place just before heading out.

The trip went without a hitch, and I exercised the car quite well on the sparsely travelled Highway 5 in BC.

After arriving in Vancouver, we set about buying the sort of things that people tend to buy when they first move out on their own. Mattress, bed frame, small kitchen appliances, and, of course, all the little things you don't realize are essential until you leave your parents' abode.

The Matrix did a fantastic job hauling all of these things, and even just a few weeks ago, I hauled home a new queen size bedframe, 2 coffee tables, and a crib, all at once from Ikea, merely by folding down one of the rear and passenger seats. I have never seen a car of that size haul some of the things we hauled over our two and half years of ownership. We also used the car to move a bunch of things back to Alberta in early 2010, after a year and half of inflating our supply of pointless consumer goods in Vancouver.

Anyway, back in 2008, after leaving Michelle on her own for about 3 weeks, I took a few days off work and went down to visit her. After I arrived, we decided to go to Victoria for a couple of days to visit my cousin.

So, the Matrix crossed the Strait of Georgia, fortunately on one of the ferries that didn't involve the crew briefly setting aside their navigational duties for a ship-sinking orgy.

While in Victoria, I decided that instead of just heading back to Vancouver, we should take a different ferry across the US border to Port Angeles, and do a tour down US Route 101, the Pacific Coast Highway.

This trip took us through the Twilight land of Forks, Washington (don't ask why I know this), and eventually to our chosen destination of Seaside, Oregon. As another useless movie reference -- I do these things -- we passed through Astoria, OR, which is the setting of Kindergarten Cop, an epic Schwarzenegger film.

Don't let the 5.8/10 rating scare you away, it rates a solid 10 in my book; I mean, come on, the scene with the line "I'm the party pooper" alone makes the entire movie worth watching.

Along the way, somewhere near the Olympic National Forest, a mentally-deficient Blacktail deer made a permanent facial imprint in the passenger door of Michelle's barely month-old car (with me at the wheel). We were driving along at 80kph, when I noticed a couple of deer waiting near the side of the road to cross. I slowed down, and on a side note, one of the annoying things in the US is that they do not seem to cut the trees back from the edge of the roads at all, and carried on after they crossed. A few moments later there was a loud bang and an impact. I pulled over, fearing the worst (that the front end of the car would be totalled), and got out of the car. As I got to the front of the car, I sighed with relief, as there was no damage. Passing around to the other side, however, I saw a massive dent in the passenger door, and no sign of the deer (I was hoping it died, as some sort of offset to the vehicular damage).

Save your wildlife comments, I believe in the Simpsons' food-chain.

We enjoyed a couple of days on the beach in Seaside, and some wicked seafood, and drove back on the interstate, stopping at the then brand new Tulalip Casino, which was conveniently located to the Seattle Premium Outlets.

I recall putting the odometer over 3500km within a month of Michelle's acquisition of the car.

The Matrix served us well on many other trips, summing to the 46,000km on it at the time of our departure.

We visited SeaTac many times to avoid insane Canadian airline prices and airport customs, Whistler, Osoyoos, and did many cross-province trips from Vancouver to Edmonton and Calgary numerous times, and from Calgary to Regina Beach, Saskatchewan twice. Once we moved to Airdrie, the Matrix served me well as a commuter car when the weather was not Miata-friendly. We also made countless trips from Airdrie to Edmonton.

All in all, despite the fact that it never would have made my shortlist if I was the one doing the shopping, the Matrix did everything we asked of it without complaint, and is the new holder of the record of "longest term of car ownership" for me, surpassing the previous holder, my old 2005 Dodge SRT-4, by 3 months.

May it serve the new owners well.

For anyone who cares, I replaced the Matrix with the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Fantastic car.

A little look at some of our road trips with it: