Picking up retired greyhounds in North Carolina.
We spent all day yesterday and today trying to decide what to replace her with. That vehicle was my everything. It hauled my kids, and their friends, and all their stuff wherever we needed to go. It could carry more cargo and lumber-yard stuff than either of our two pick-up trucks. Most importantly, I could easily put seven rescued greyhounds in there for their trip to new homes and forever families. All of this is gone now.
I don't need a big SUV often enough to buy another one. Our red Jeep Wrangler is my everyday transportation. We have two pickup trucks for hauling 'stuff', so that's not really a regular requirement either. We only run dog transports every couple of months now, so it doesn't seem wise to buy a vehicle mainly for this.
What we NEED is something that can hold two big dogs and a car seat. It isn't often that we have both the dogs and the grandson in the car at the same time, but we need to be able to do it when necessary. To accomplish this, whatever we buy has to have a split back seat that folds flat and level ... very few vehicles do this (except for big SUVs).
This is my Daniel, when I was bringing him up from NC.
We zeroed in on the Ford Flex yesterday afternoon. The salesman at the Ford dealership was very helpful, showing us the features and functions of the vehicle ... but I just couldn't make myself like it. "Let's see what they have at the Chrysler dealership." my husband said.
As we drove onto the lot, the first thing we saw was a row of 4-door Jeep Wranglers. We found them to be surprisingly roomy inside ... equivalent to the space in my mom and dad's Explorer, I think. (The Explorer's seats don't fold flat, so one of these was never an option for us.) I was immediately comfortable driving this Jeep, it met all our needs and looked cool doing it, so we decided to buy one.
This is the one I built on the Jeep web site, and it's exactly like what we bought.
Some time tomorrow, as soon as it arrives from southwest Virginia (via an inter-dealer trade, because our local dealer didn't have exactly the one we wanted), we will be the proud owners of a brand new 2010 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, in Deep Sea Blue Pearl with every option known to mankind ... just the way I like it.
I have to thank the staff at Safford Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fredericksburg for making the purchase of this car such a positive experience. They don't pay me to say nice things ... I just want everyone to know that you CAN and SHOULD have pleasant experience in a car dealership. Everyone at Safford treated us with respect, and I appreciate that.
I can't help myself ... in my head, I keep hearing, "One Jeep, two Jeep, red Jeep, blue Jeep". ... sigh ...
(written by Hartwood Roses. Hartwood Roses blog.)