A Bitter Sweet Change

January 30, 2011

Yesterday I woke up with the feeling that something good was going to happen to me. I got up, met my parents for lunch in Salt Lake, then decided to go test drive some Jeeps once again.

I have been looking since about November. A friend of mine from college, Jeff, works at Hinckley Dodge up in Salt Lake. I have been testing a few of the newer Liberty's for a while because my 2003 was getting up there in miles (168,000 to be exact), and I just don't know enough about cars to hang onto her much longer I'm afraid. She was still working well, but it had been 5 years with her, and I felt maybe it was time for something new. I had a feeling in me on Saturday that I would find it.

Jeff and I wandered around the lot for a little discussing payment options of what I could afford. I'm really not that wealthy--I'm a poor teacher after all. But, we decided to check the used lot to see if there was anything there worthwhile. We found one!

I had tested about four others with Jeff, but they all had severe cosmetic detail issues or were missing the "sunroof" or other features that I loved about my Jeep. I knew I'd find the best one when I wouldn't feel sad about leaving my old one. Today was the day.

We found me a 2008 Jeep Liberty Limited--it is probably the nicest thing I have ever owned. It has only 24,000 miles it and it is leather interior and full of fun fancy features. It is also black--which means I'll have to clean it more often...but I think I'll be okay with that. I saw the sunroof and the low miles and it was love at first sight. Once I was in, Jeff and I knew we'd found a winner.

Here's a quick shot of her at my parent's house in Idaho. She is a lot of fun to drive.





And in memory of my old Jeep, here's a few pictures of her. I will miss her--but we had some great memories!

I had taken her to many mountain peaks in the area--she was a great little off-roader.

This was her at her 100,000 mile mark. We celebrated that day!

I think this change will be good. I feel really good about it--until I see my monthly payments go up and the insurance too...good bye spontaneous shopping!