I realize all good things must end, and I had been preparing (a little) for this day but I thought I had at least 25,000 to 35,000 miles to go before it ended. I just had new tires put on last Christmas break for goodness sake, but alas the Durango was done when I turned the key on Sunday morning. I had always said I wanted to drive it into the ground and apparently, a cracked manifold and 3 of 8 pistons or something that won't compress is all it took.
Still in denial I called the dealership and had the Durango towed to them to fix. Brad wisely said, "If it goes over XX amount, we are going to have to get a new car and let this one go." I had been thinking of the new Durango and also the Honda Pilots, but this was on Monday so that is as far as the thinking went. By late Monday afternoon, December 30, we knew it was bad and on the 31st of December we had to go car shopping, like it or not. (The 8 year old decidedly did not, even though her opinion regarding the backseat and cargo really did matter).
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We started at Safford Dodge, which is where we'd bought the current Durango and had almost nine years of great customer service from everyone there. I saw two different Durango's and test drove one. While Brad was writing up a 'wish list' for Sonny, our salesman, Piper and I spied this little gem in the showroom. Yep, a brand new Dodge Charger with a big ol' red bow, but look closely that's not the best part. The best part is the color of the car matches my Coach bag EXACTLY!! A matching car to go with my purse?? Hmm, no, not unless it's a BMW Convertible. I'm not that crazy!!After fun and games at Safford Dodge we headed to Bill Page Honda to check out a new Pilot. I will say it was big and roomy and it rode very nicely, the seats were comfortable and it did sit eight people total but I didn't love it. I think sometimes if you are comfortable and happy with something and you don't really have to change then it's nice to keep some consistency. I wouldn't have had trouble or issue driving up to the Honda dealership and it was very nice and new but there is something to be said for already having an established relationship with a business. You know what you're going to get and I knew I would get the best, for me, from Safford and I think Brad realized that as well. Our salesman, Sonny, found the Durango we wanted and we slept (partied, rang in the new year, had some coffee, read the paper, did some laundry, swept the floors, shaved my legs, etc.), on it and went over to Safford this afternoon, January 1, 2014. I sat in a Durango similar to the one being delivered to us, just to be sure and went over the features with Sonny and felt like it was the right choice for us. Then it was just a matter of the paperwork, etc. Since the service department was closed we were able to just go in and unload the first Durango and get everything out and say goodbye.
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| Last time I am sitting in the drivers seat. |
We bought this car over Columbus Day weekend in 2004, it was one of those times where I think I surprised Brad and he had no idea who he was dealing with. The window in our lemon of a jeep had gone down and wouldn't go up, I had duct tape on it all weekend and had to take it to work that day leaving it parked in Home Depot lots while the window kept slowly sliding down all day. I was so done with that jeep when I got home and Brad and a friend had gone looking at Safford (then Jerry's Dodge) and told me they'd found one that 'might work'. I said okay and went out to the jeep and totally unloaded it, including taking the license plate covers off and then came back in and said 'Let's Go.' I remember Brad asking why I took everyone out and I said, "Oh I'm not coming back with this we are driving home a new Durango". He was not ready for that at all, but then again not only was I done dealing with the jeep and it's issues I was also four months pregnant and a little cranky. But, from that night began a great relationship with this dealership and my beautiful blue Durango. It's the car we brought our daughter home in, drove to New York City with all the kids for a summer weekend. We took it to Canton, OH to see Floyd Little inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and to the Eastern Shore to watch Brian marry Chelsea. It was what we took our daughter in for her first 'road trip' to Virginia Beach with my parents. We went to see Brian and Kaitlyn play a baseball game, when she was four weeks old. It was what we drove her to for her first day of preschool, kindergarten and swim team practice. There are so many memories in that one car, we loaded with all the tile to remodel the bathroom in our old townhouse, and moved much of our household when we moved 2 miles away. Making trip after trip on a four mile round trip, to save some of the moving fees and unpacking time. It was also the car we put Myles in and drove away from our townhouse for the last time and came to our new house. Turns out everything was great about my Durango except it didn't fit very well into the garage at our new house. But even that was okay because I didn't have to deal with neighbors door dinging me every day anymore and I had a nice big driveway for it to sit in.
So now I found myself and family sitting back at the same dealership, signing papers to buy a new Durango and start new memories. I couldn't have been luckier to have Sonny helping us. It was a bittersweet day for the beginning of 2014. I'm saying hello and goodbye and poor Brad is back to having a car payment after almost three years of none.
I finally pick up the car on the 2nd since it was coming from a different dealership and wouldn't you know it, by the time I'm driving away it's snowing! But, this time as I drove my Durango I felt so much safer, no heavy hemi engine weighting down the front and all wheel drive as opposed to two wheel drive. Plus, a heated steering wheel and in the back seat, little girlie had control of her heated seat too. I was driving one very happy 8 year old. She took this picture of me driving off the lot and as you can kind of see there are a lot of bells and whistles on this one, compared to the older one. I am going to be sitting in it tomorrow while I set up Bluetooth, more radio stations, (finally XM and no more listening to the homeboys talk about the Redskins going to the Super Bowl anymore if I don't want to!!!), seat preferences, etc. I might let Brad play with it too but not until I program all the controls the way I prefer them, ha ha. 
Final picture of the front grill with the H2oGals plates already on~ in the snow!
