Goodbye Pickup, Hello Jeep!

Things have been ratcheting down at work, which was good because events were ratcheting up at home. Among the ups and downs was that I had to face the fact that it was time to get rid of my eighteen year old pickup, Betsy:

She was a 1995 Nissan King Cab. I was hoping to hold out for twenty years, but the repairs were getting too frequent and expensive. She was a beaut, but inconvenient as a family car because the only seats in the back were jump seats. We only let our girl get in the back in the direst of emergencies.

(Never mind the bent mailbox. It has been creamed several times by ne’er-do-wells on New Year’s Eve, or dump trucks going down the road to a small development that is under construction. So my husband rigged the box some kind of spring so it snaps back in place, and doesn’t worry about how much it leans.)

Back in March, my husband asked me what I thought of the Jeep Libertys. I didn’t hear anything beyond the word, “Jeep”. Little did he know that I had been harboring fond memories of our 77 Blazer, dirt-roading all throughout central Arizona. So I thought, A Jeep! Yeah! That’s what I want!

Afraid of chasing a whim, I sat on the idea for a few months. And I put 800 dollars (at least) into repairs of my truck. On top of the repairs I had already done recently.

So when we had it towed away for repair last week, we decided it would be for the last time.

So here’s my new Jeep Wrangler! Picture taken off-road, of course.

One would think that I really, really like the color red. In both cases, it was the best of what was available, not necessarily my first choice. Which would have been neon orange or green. Flame Red works for me.

It is a Sport, which is their basic model, upgraded with automatic transmission (I had standard for 20 years, and was done with it), the connectivity pack, and the tow kit. No power windows. It does come with a theft deterrent system. We’ll be upgrading it with side steps this week.

Here’s one with me in it:

The Jeep’s name is Clint. After Clint Eastwood in Kelly’s Heroes. There are a few great Jeep scenes in that movie.

Isn’t it cool? Do I make you want one?