Driving Miss Kerri

Never in a million years did I see myself writing about cars and driving, but recent events have had this topic in the forefront of my mind. You see, we are now the proud owners of a new van, not so exciting in and of itself, but the journey to get there was like nothing I ever expected.

The Fun Bus

Back when our first grandchild arrived we thought purchasing a van might be a good idea so that we would have room for all the grandchildren we thought were sure to come. So we did just that and over the next several years more grandchildren did arrive. As time went on carseats gave way to booster seats and then just seatbelts and a very full van as the children grew and became teenagers.

We always try to make sure that we make the most of our time with grandkids and grandpa is especially good at planning a lineup of fun activities. Somewhere along the line he decided to start calling the van the Fun Bus and it stuck. Looking back it was an apt name as many a game of I Spy or Punchbuggy was played in the Fun Bus while we drove to mini golf, or the beach or one of many other fun things. It truly was a fun bus with lots of great memories attached and it served us well for many years.

Moving On

After about ten years of ownership, we started to think about a new vehicle. Repairs were starting to be more frequent and costly and we could see that our children were getting a bit concerned about our safety driving such an old vehicle. And all the new safety features we saw in car advertisements were appealing – we are seniors after all…

Little did we know that it would be a multi year process before we actually made a purchase. First we had to agree on what type of vehicle we wanted. My husband and I fall into the opposites attract category and so this was a loooong part of the process. At various points it felt like trying to negotiate world peace, but we did eventually agree. Then there was adapting to the sticker shock that comes from not having paid attention to vehicle prices for many years. Yikes!! Once we got over that, we were ready to take some vehicles for a test drive.

I have to say, there is nothing like getting into a brand new vehicle – that new car smell is quite intoxicating but our intoxication quickly turned to overwhelm when we had to be coached by the salesperson about how to start the car without a key. Whaaat? Then as we drove there were all kinds of safety features the salesman pointed out (by the way, when did salesmen start coming along on test drives?). There were so many beeps and lights and gadgets, it felt like flying an airplane, not driving a car. At this point we were seriously questioning our decision to get a new vehicle – could we old dogs learn all these new tricks?

After several more test drives and twice coming close to making purchase, we finally signed on the dotted line and found ourselves the proud owners of a new vehicle.

Hello and Goodbye

We have owned our new van for just over four months now and I think it’s safe to say we old dogs have learned the new tricks reasonably well – some of them anyway. I like having a backup camera and the blind spot warning system is great, but we do still have some random beeps that happen and have no idea what they mean… And we are still working on how to sync the garage door opener and what the heck UConnect is anyway. But after a few visits to the dealership for help, I think we may have worn out our welcome as our salesman is no longer telling us to “stop by anytime.” So kids get ready for more phone calls from your parents.😁

By far my favourite feature is the dual climate controls because, you guessed it, my husband and I are opposites. I am always wrapped up in a blanket to keep warm while he wears shorts pretty much all year round, so having dual climate controls has brought an end to the temperature wars while we are driving. Now, if we could only arrange dual climate controls in our house.

We chose not to trade in the Fun Bus when we purchased our new van so it sat in our driveway for a several weeks until we donated it to the Kidney Foundation. When the day came for it to be picked up I was surprised at how emotional I was as it got loaded onto the tow truck. The thought of it being taken to a junk yard after so many years of good service and happy memories, made me quite sad. The good news is the tow truck driver said the van was in good shape and would probably be sold rather than scrapped, so I felt marginally better knowing someone else would get some use out of it and have the chance to make some memories of their own.

We will be doing a new post every Monday so stay tuned for the next one entitled “We’ll Be Home for Christmas.”