Oughtta, Shouldda, Couldda

This is almost where it all started. Almost. Actually, it was the Ford V-10 (yes, read ten cylinders) pickup that we had traded in for this one. We had bought the ten to haul a camp trailer that we also dumped a few months before. But that's another story.

This Durango was sweet. 4WD, leather, and comfortably heavy. We never worried coming back from Medford in snow. But the engine would miss every now and then. Nothing serious, we never got stuck anywhere. Just a teeny bit worrisome.

Then, one day when we were approaching the offramp to Cypress it starts to vibrate something awful and as I slowed down to pull over I look in the mirror and there are PARTS dropping onto the freeway behind me. Large parts. Metal parts. As in transmission pieces.

We had come to a stop on the offramp, just a mile or two from the dealership where we had bought the car. To make a long story short it was the transfer case. It had siezed up and blown apart. We were under warranty thankfully, and they even loaned us a car while they replaced it.

But the missing engine never got any better. Turned out to be the computer was going south to the tune of $1,000+. The tires were also worn and we had almost 125,000 miles on the vehicle so we did what all good Americans do and traded up to a new Durango. Heavier. Roomier. Worse mileage.

Then we bought a new Dodge truck, too. A chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage, right?

We did this maybe six months before gas prices began spiking and before the recession and housing slump (we're in real estate so we were right up there in the front ranks). So we gritted our teeth and held on until winter came on and she needed tires and brakes. $1,000 later she handled better and we felt oh-so much safer. Of course gas had peaked around $4.75 by this time and those two car payments were looking more ugly every month.

So here we go again. This time with both cars to trade in on ONE car that gets super mileage. It's a Hyundai Santa Fe which I couldn't even spell the first time out . . . I kept forgetting the "y". Front wheel drive with automatic AWD when a wheel spins loose, 19 airbags (there may be one in the ashtray, too), and dual exhaust. That's right.

Of course we got beat up on the Durango. "We can't even sell them now with gas where it is" they told us. We reminded them that we had thoughtfully just put new brakes and tires on her but in the end we still lost a chunk. At least we got what we owed on the truck, though.

Let's see, if I had this to do all over again . . .