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new family wheels summer 2001

with the house safely and finally purchased (yippee my first house, yippee my first $150,000+ debt), michael and I were finally able to go out and buy new cars.

laura selected the economy model ford escort 1994 with five-speed manual transmission and really cold AC for only $2,000 (plus $900 in brakes - long story). michael chose the sporty jeep cherokee 1998 with automatic transmission and a long-awaited armrest.

I started a new job in the northwest suburbs in april 2001 after my old company, bluemeteor, went out of business. after working in city for the past few years, I had driven to work very seldom, instead choosing to take the train most days and hoof it between the train and work and home. it certainly kept me fit when I was pregnant and the snow was a foot deep!

then I started working in the suburbs and quickly realized that driving my 1995 ford bronco 8cyl, 302cc was not going to happen. it cost me $60 to fill my tank at $1.67/gallon and I was going through almost two tanks a week. at 15 mpg or less, what did I expect? plus the kids hated it - it was hard for them to get in and out. and hauling kids around in my favorite vehicle was getting really old anyway, it had food stuck down in the seat cracks, there was coffee spilled all over the front mats, it needed a good detailing and I was itching to get it done.

so I bought the escort and it fits all kids extremely comfortably. they love it because it is literally just the right size for them and they have their own doors and windows, which they did not have in the truck. the best part is it gets like 35 miles to the gallon. driving to and from work every day and to the barn two days, I get about a week's worth of driving out of one tank, which costs me only $11-$12.00. it's pretty cute and very zippy and it looks like a newish car. it only had one previous owner and he took good care of it.

I promptly bought new mats and a molded cargo mat for the bronco, took it in for detailing and then put it in the garage. it's been there ever since.

come and see pictures of all the family wheels.

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