New Car

Southern experienced something new this past Friday - buying a new car. I have driven the same car since I started driving at age 16. My trusty ol' 1998 black Honda CR-V. It has been such a great car that I couldn't imagine driving anything other than a Honda. While my car is perfect for a single girl or a couple, it started getting a little cramped with a baby on board. It was getting hard to try to carry everything we now need on trips - car seat, high chair, play pen, etc. But my CR-V is just perfect for zipping around. It gets great gas mileage, is easy to drive, and can carry a large amount of cargo for its size.

Dustin's car, on the other hand, has been having problems since he bought it. It was his 2nd car. He got it his senior year of high school. His Paw-Paw is the one who actually spotted it and drove it home for Dustin to try out. He loved it, but it has been costing us money over the years. It was mainly just little things - chipping exterior paint, control knobs popping off, vinyl peeling up inside, windows not rolling down, cargo light falling off, doors not staying open, etc. But then there was also the failed transmission that no matter how many times we got it "fixed" we would still occasionally find new red stains in our driveway. So it was decided that if we ever got a new car, his would be the one to go. And sadly, last week was the last time he will ever drive it. I got a video of that final drive...

It was with us through his senior year of high school. We went to prom in it that year. It saw us through college, two moves since Dustin's TLU graduation, and it was the car that Southern and I would wait on the front porch to see driving home to us in the afternoons of Southern's first 15 months of life. We'll miss it.

But in order to expand our family, we will have to have a vehicle that can hold everyone and all the stuff that comes along with us. So we've been casually looking a larger SUVs for the past few months. I came across one on the internet just last week that really caught our attention. We stopped by to look at it one evening, which led to us test driving it the next day, which led to us buying it the next afternoon. Our "new" car is a 2004 Honda Pilot. It is "loaded" with leather, nice speakers, a CD player, and even a tape player! It has the third row that we needed and is in almost perfect condition. It had belonged to a doctor who would use it for his commute from East San Antonio to South Austin during the week. Only the front seat shows wear. It was just too good of a deal to pass up.

So now my car is Dustin's commuter, his truck is for his hunting and fishing adventures, and our new Honda Pilot is our family vehicle. The only thing we need next is a bigger driveway!