My Week in a Subaru

The other day a friend of mine asked me how I manage to do so many things and keep up with normal life activities on top of it all... and while I can't exactly explain how I do it, I know my Subaru helps!  I took a moment and thought about all the stuff that I do and how this car has helped me (directly and indirectly) to keep up with them.

If you haven't figured it out by reading my other articles yet, I sell Subarus at a local dealership.  I also help organize meets and events for the Nebraska Subaru Owners Club (NSOC) and cruise around often with those guys and gals.  Sometimes I'll just go adventuring on my own or with my Fiance, finding fun new places, zipping around gravel corners, or visiting friends out of town.  All of those bits pretty actively involve my Impreza.

There's a lot my Subaru helps me do, especially in the "hauling all my junk around" segment.  Things start off on Mondays.  Every Monday night I'm playing in a 17 piece Big Band with Mike Gurciullo at the Ozone Lounge.  I literally go straight from work to the lounge on Mondays to finish out my day, so my King 2B Trombone is in it's case, along with a bag full of mutes, and a change of clothes all ready to go each week.

Wednesdays the NSOC guys show up at the dealership for a "Pre-Meet" before the weekly meet at J-Birds.  I usually nab my Canon Rebel T1i and nab some photos before they drive off.  In the wintertime, when the dealership closes at 6pm, I go with them and talk cars and enjoy the company of fellow owners.  I've met a bunch of great folks through these casual meetings.  Photography has kind of been a hobby that follows all the other things I do, so I keep most of my gear (spare batteries, tripod, etc) in my car at all times, ready for whatever I find interesting enough to nab a photo of.

Every Thursday, I run an outdoor laser tag group.  We've been doing this for 8 years now over the summer between mid-May and early August.  There are 30 sets of gear that we loan out each week, so I need room to pack it all in.  It's no contest for the room in the back of my Impreza.  The 5-Door design lends itself well to easily loading and unloading all of that gear.  Generally, when folks show up for the games, they line up outside my car, I pop open the hatch, and start handing it out directly from the storage crates.

Weather can be unpredictable sometimes, so it's also nice to have a dry place to run back to if it starts raining during a game.  It keeps all that gear dry to use another day.  Regardless, my Subaru has helped us a lot more than folks realize.

Speaking of weather, this thing is a tank.  It doesn't matter if it's a frozen tundra outside or if you could fry eggs on the sidewalk.  My Impreza manages to keep the elements under control and make me comfortable.  It manages to do all of this as a mere base model, entry-level car.

Most weekends my fiance and I go out exploring, visiting friends, just having a good time.  Recently we've been house hunting and planning stuff for our wedding, so we do a lot of errands around town.  It doesn't matter what the adventure is, though.  I chase down sunsets, escape light pollution to find starlit skies, track deer through the woods, all while sipping fuel as I average 33 mpg.  I manage to do a lot of things, haul a lot of stuff, and see a lot of people with this car.  All it does is confirm the reason I got this car in the first place:  To help me do more, not make me settle for less.