Goodness!
So May has been QUITE a month! Our 18th Anniversary kicked things off, then an awesome backpacking overnight followed by a group camping trip. Matt bought a new car, the new-to-us kind anyway, on the 13th. We decided to go over our first budget because the car had such low mileage (only 40k!) and gets amazing gas mileage. Something like 33-34 MPG. He drives 60 miles a day. And it has AC. With the incredible interest rate we got from Redstone, we will only pay back what amounts to less than a single payment more than we borrowed if we take the whole term to repay. So we were okay with that whole thing financially speaking. 8 years ago this month, we paid cash for his Volvo and financed my Sedona-within 2 weeks of each other. He needed a better commute car, we thought the Volvo would last a couple years (it was $1500) and we could look at our options then. hahaha! Had we known it would live 8 more years (and it's still running!) we would have gotten the AC fixed. It turned 20 this year.
On the 20th, I wrecked Nettlevan and while the insurance company is still out on what to do about the other guy because he contributed to the accident, they totalled out the van on the 27th and gave us a check.
Yesterday, the 29th, we sold Poppy. To a family with young kids and a do it yourselfer dad who seemed very at ease with her quirks. I think when the dust settles, I will probably have a good cry about that like I have about the van, but right now the timing could NOT have been better.
Between the insurance check and selling her and pulling some from savings AND the guy selling it coming down a chunk AND agreeing to replace the windshield, we can pay cash for the replacement van, which is another 2006 Kia Sedona. I took it to Beth yesterday to look over before we agreed to buy it and she said, "Well, of COURSE it is (another Sedona)." SHE, and I am not sure how I feel about this just yet, is the one who cast the deciding vote to total Nettlevan! It was at a different repair place and everything, but small towns are so damn nosy. She knew it was wrecked before the insurance company did. She said it had so much wear, it wasn't worth putting money into bodywork when the engine might go. Sad, but likely very true. :(
The van checked out fine, it's in WAY better shape than poor Nettlevan was. Everything that was going on with her isn't going on with this one. And it has new tires-much nicer than I would ever have shelled out for. And over 100k miles less on the engine and has never hauled anything.
I drove it over 2 hours yesterday, never had an issue. Right after the wreck when we were out running an errand, Matt came to a quick stop and I got so scared! I was worried I was going to be a wimpy driver, but no. It's exactly like Nettlevan inside, only much, much cleaner, grey instead of beige, and everything works. The power steering (Matt says it's a HUGE difference, but I did not actually notice it was out on Nettlevan unless I was parallel parking).
The middle seats both flip up, the console table extends back to the middle seats (ours DID until Jake climbed on it and broke the extending part the first WEEK after I bought it). That timing belt tensioner noise does not happen when I crank it, there's no dent where I backed into the light pole at Judy's after mowing the grass. The front end noise going over bumps does not happen because no one went airborne jumping some railroad tracks in this van and stretched the subframe bushings. So the front passenger tire isn't always out of alignment, either. Hands off the wheel at 65 and it stayed straight on the road. There's no long scrape on the side from where I was really sure I'd fit between 2 fences. The front end is not taped from where someone parked up on a rock curb and ripped the plastic shield thing in half backing off of it. And...though I feel kind of bad about this being a point in its favor...it's not GOLD. It's a sparkly glacier blue.
Before we dropped it back off to sign the papers, I set all the radio stations just like in Nettlevan and later I combed through that massive pile of things I had in the van and put what I really need in a paper bag to distribute when I pick her up Wednesday!
It's been a very emotional month and 4 Wednesdays in a row with major life changes. Well, for us anyway. We don't swap vehicles every few years or take on debt lightly. I would have kept that clunky van for years more if she'd lasted. I feel right getting another one and happy that it should be around a long while yet-paid for and everything.
