I feel like I should be posting some grand celebratory post for t he new years, but I’m several weeks behind as usual. Wrapping up 2012 though, I did say a monumental goodbye- to my Jeep Grand Cherokee of over 8 years.
I bought my first brand new car just before Thanksgiving in 2004, and I’ve only put 69,000 miles on it since then. Fortunately, I live close to work & don’t have far to commute each day & we generally take hubby’s car out when we go out together, unless we are transporting the dogs.
I’ll have to say I’m pretty glad to see it go! I’m not very gentle on cars & it was pretty much a clunker from the beginning. Lots of little thing, like this broken rear air vent which the dogs regularly stepped on, were in need of repair.
My rear seats stayed down 99% of the time & this was the dog’s domain- can’t tell you how many messes they have made over the years.
I was so proud to get this fancy car, all loaded, when I bought it, but it was really starting to show it’s age & wear.
And then there were things like the left rear fender- which was involved in 2 little dust ups when we lived at our last house.
It’s hard to see, but there’s a little dent & scrape there from when BOTH hubby & I backed my car out of the garage and into his parked car (our driveway had a slight curve).
Stuff lke this gasket had been falling out for years- it didn’t really bother me, but hubby would just shake his head in embarrassment.
Just a few years after buying it, I was running around at work- with a mechanical pencil in my back pocket & managed to snag a nice hole in the driver seat. The hazards of being an engineer I guess….
Yup, it was just generally dirty. I didn’t wash it often enough, ate (clumsily) in it too often, and generally abused it.
I traded it it and took home a …. FORD EXPLORER!! If you know what I do for a living, I’m quite shocked that I purchased this vehicle, but I LOVE it.
Ford has done a really good job on the interior & the exterior of the new Explorer, and I”m loving all the technology upgrades on the inside & having a new car.
It’s actually quite a bit bigger than the Jeep, with a 3rd row of seating & the area behind the 2nd row seats is large enough that the puppies can stay in the cargo area while I have the rear seats up. I’m super excited & really love having it, especially this winter with the remote start & heated seats/steering wheel.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Computer (mostly) fixed, new phone ordered, finger still broken (but not hurting as much). It was a rough few days, but hopefully the worst is over (well, once I replace my brand new tire with a nail in it tomorrow).
