Our new van. To me, this vehicle represents something VERY nice for Annie and I.
It also represents the end of my 104 day long stretch of us going without a vehicle, after our twenty year old Honda Accord munched its transmission while returning back home from
Cheyenne, after buying a new dryer (bottom pic).
After 3 1/2 years, we finally settled the personal injury lawsuit from the accident that permanently disabled me, forcing early retirement nearly a decade before I planned to. I was hoping for a much larger settlement, since it required neck/spine surgery eight months later to start healing, but ended my working career. But, we at least accomplished good things with what we received.
This is exactly what we needed…a van that lets Annie and I get around, travel around Wyoming, maybe a trip to Cali to visit our musician son Kenny, and a trip down to Texas to visit my Auntie Mary Lou…my late dad’s baby sister.
It’s a 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan SE, and we paid $12k for it, the TTL, and used the remainder to fill our pantry to overflowing. Runs like a fine Swiss watch, and Annie can get in, after loading her wheelchair directly behind the driver seat. I found it via CarGurus.com, out of 20 vans across the nation.
I was truly hoping to find an RT model, but this turned out to be the better deal. Still, very happy…
Our dearly departed Accord…alone on the shoulder of interstate 80, 20 miles east of Elk Mountain. Had no funds to tow it, fix it, or replace back in mid June. This is the car I posted a note on the drivers window, saying “call me, and I’ll mail the title to you”…and no one ever called.
Still, I suffered no bad thoughts about losing our car…just saw it as something that could bless other folks with…and then we moved on.