Vehicles

Ben and I bought this Trailblazer the week after we got married. It was our car. I loved driving it and it treated us well.

Enter a large 3 year old and baby number 2. The back seat was very tight in this thing. To fit the baby seat in, you can't have the front seat all the way back (which is necessary for Ben). Also, with the front seat all the way back, Nicholas had zero leg room. You might be thinking, "He's 3...how much leg room does he need?" Well, the child had a very hard time getting in and out of the car seat and pretty much any time he moved his legs he kicked my seat.

The last few months we have been considering a new vehicle. Ben wanted a Tahoe (and I do like them, too). When we looked at the space in them, I knew we would need the Suburban. The newer ones are very tall. Nicholas would not be able to climb in/out of the thing on his own for a while. They are also very expensive. Why would I pay so much for something that is going to be inconvenient for us right now? So, Ben saw things my way and we began looking at vans. The Toyota Sienna quickly moved to the top of our list. Ben didn't fit in the Honda Odyssey, so that one was checked off quickly. The new Dodge Caravan's didn't do a lot for us, either. So, now we just needed to decide to buy the thing.

Being the end of the month and close to the end of the year, the dealer wanted to sell one. They had one on the lot here in town, but the color was really dark...and dark colors don't do well on dusty country roads. Their partner dealer in Yakima and a Sandy Beach (gold) one...which was perfect as it is Ben's favorite color for a car. I'm not huge on gold, but since I got the van, it only seemed fair that Ben got his color! We purchased it Tuesday evening and I got to pick it up last night...

Ben got this maroon pick-up a while back:

The pick-up was loaded. It had every option possible...and Ben loved the thing.

Tuesday evening after buying the van, Ben's parent's were headed off to Seattle for a flight Wednesday morning. The pass was bad and they were requiring chains on non-4WD vehicles. Their van doesn't have 4WD so they took Ben's pick-up (since we had just signed our Trailblazer over to Bud Clary!).

Not far down the road, they heard a loud noise, so they pulled over. They called Ben to see if he has a fire extinguisher in there as they were seeing oil spilling everywhere and smoke, and maybe a few flames. They called back a few minutes later to see if he wanted anything out of it as the flames were getting bigger. Right after Lou asked that, he said he didn't think he should go near it...it was up in flames...4 feet high. I don't have any "after" pictures but apparently all that is left is the frame and the box on the back. Ben is still mourning the loss of the pick-up.

They had just bought a newer Chevy (the white one next to Ben's in the above picture). That is Kit's pick-up. Lou and Debbie ended up driving the white pick-up to the West-side and now Ben has to start pick-up shopping...again.

So, I'm now driving a new van, and Ben will be driving something different shortly. What a week!

*See below for pictures of Ben's pick-up*