In Memoriam of My Minivan

[Camperroo]

Well my devoted minivan that got us to Florida and DW, took us to the drive-in on many wonderful summer nights and brought our popup to Williamsburg and countless other trips, survived being rear-ended last summer, repaired the axle that snapped off after the accident, plus survived the ordeal of the crazy road rage person, finally gave up the ghost!    She was a loyal car, piled on 108,000 miles.  We've nursed her along with constantly filling up the transmission fluid as she sprung a leak, fixed her constant oil drip, that left an indelible black mark on our driveway and kept her shiny and clean anyway, proud of her age!!!  Actually on the outside she didn't look so bad you know!  Unfortunately on the way home on Friday, I'm sad to report the squealing squeaking sound I heard inside the car became a loud scream as I sat in traffic, turning heads at the street corners!!  Yikes!  Then inside I heard the ding, ding, ding of some alarm going off...that was new!  Luckily I was only a couple of blocks from home so I continued to drive her home with alarm bell ringing away and her loud squealing.  As I pulled into the driveway I quickly tried to match up the picture of what was alarming on my dashboard with the book that comes with the car and it said engine critically overheating...I quickly shut it off...and that my friends was her last breath      I hopped out of the car and antifreeze was also running down the driveway and the water pump met its end also.  

Old Bessie as the kids like to call her, left us peacefully parked in her favorite spot on the driveway.  The kids gave her one last bath and clean up as we awaited the tow truck to come take her away...

I feel like a traitor, but as I do have to get the kids to school, etc., and after a panicked phone call to my DH about what happened to her, my wonderful DH came home from work but told me to come outside with him.  He and my DD were all smiles.  He left work early and picked up DD to go find mom a car, took a poll with DD and DS and the end result was outside waiting for me was a beautiful brand new Dodge Durango!!  I haven't had a new car in 9 years....and also have had the benefit of no car payments for a couple of years.  But now I have my shiny new truck, SUV...I don't know what to call it yet in the driveway and the kids quickly pointed out it was big enough to tow a hybrid (such smart camping kids!!)

So farewell to our Dodge Grand Caravan, it served us well for many years!!  I get way to attached to objects!!  I'm a little nervous about having to deal with car payments again, but I do have peace of mind I can drive the kids around a bit more safely without any breakdowns...well let's hope!!

[jpreiser]

Enjoy your new Durango!!!  

[aw738]

Now the big question. Does it have a HEMI? If you want more info then check out this website. How HEMI Engines Work

[Miller Tyme]

Hahahaha!(sorry) Classic!;)

 
We retired our Caravan last year after most of the problems you mentioned. Between the wheel bearings, the leaking oil, tranny slipping and other minor problems, it just wasn't worth fixing any more. So when I found the Blazer, that was it.
Right now, the Caravan is sitting in our drive, waiting for the title to show up,(after Linda's divorce becomes final) so we can junk it;) or sell it to some other sucker.
Congrats on the Durango(wish I could afford something that nice, guess I have to settle for an Exploder).

[LoadedCamera]

Enjoy the Durango!!!  We love ours and yes ours has a Hemi  

Kat
 
P.S.  It will tow a Hybrid....it tows ours quite well.

[NightOwl]

OH dear. Rose,  I know how you feel about becoming attached to things.  I do it, too, and  I feel the same way about  my Aerostar van (and they dont make them anymore, alas)  It's our third Aerostar and was one of the last Ford produced.  

It's 7 years old, has just turned over to 100,000 miles and has never cost us a cent in repairs--we replaced the Michelins once and put in a new battery.  Gets 21-22 mpg highway (I keep it tuned up) and will hold 7 passengers when we need.  It has pulled the TM over the 8 % grades of our local mountains and the Smokies (4 times at  15 --16 mpg)  with no trouble.  So FOR ME, it's been a wonderul car.

When it finally dies, I may just have to give up driving as I have never driven  a car I like as well.

But you are going to love that Durango!  We have 2 friends with them and they really swear by  them!  (And besides,  when you move to Fla. you will have even more fun with it :J  )

" Rosies Caravan--may it rest in well-earned peace."

(And maybe the Road Rage guys will not want to tangle with a Durango--it has a more "Testosterone"  image.  :-()  :-()  :-()

[Miss-Teri]

Our Windstar (the tow vehicle) has about 118,000 miles on it and is still going strong, and our Ford Escort has about 175,000 on it and isn't doing bad at all!  
I understand about getting attached - my Escort is gonna be like that when we lose it.  It was an answer to prayers during some really tough times and I'm so thankful for it every time I drive it.  Gonna really miss that one.  
Congratulations on the Durango!  I bet it will be a wonderful replacement!

[Camperroo]

Hemi, what's a hemi!!  I drove the new car today and am getting use to it.  Nightowl you are so right in the testosterone image!!  My DH picked it out because it's big and people like my road rage jerk, will probably think it will be a guy driving and less likely to target a female.  Wish I had it back then!!   Kids love getting into it.  Yesterday we sat in it like saps just listening to the new CD stereo...didn't have anything that fancy in my minivan!   I still can't believe it's mine, and I'm excited but it's tempered with now having to deal with car payments again..yuk.

And yes...as for Florida it will get us there comfortably because it looks like that is a go!!  I'm really excited about it now!  DH just got back last week from checking out the schools and looked at homes.  He told me he loved it and he feels the quality of life down there will be far better for our family as we love the outdoors and costs of living is much better than our struggling along in taxachusetts.  He also toured the high school which is brand spanking new and was very impressed with teachers and curriculum, etc.  So soon I'll be asking all about great campgrounds in the North and South Tampa area.  Right now we are already hoping to spend some Christmas break time down in FW!!!  So exciting!!

[MommaMia]

And yes...as for Florida it will get us there comfortably because it looks like that is a go!!  I'm really excited about it now!  DH just got back last week from checking out the schools and looked at homes.  He told me he loved it and he feels the quality of life down there will be far better for our family as we love the outdoors and costs of living is much better than our struggling along in taxachusetts.  He also toured the high school which is brand spanking new and was very impressed with teachers and curriculum, etc.  So soon I'll be asking all about great campgrounds in the North and South Tampa area.  Right now we are already hoping to spend some Christmas break time down in FW!!!  So exciting!!

Really?!?!?  I feel so out of the loop on this!!!  A while back I was the one who gave you tons of info about our area, telling you how much we love it here!  So you are moving to FL?  Tampa?  Ohhhh... close but so far from us at the same time!!  But definitely close enough to camp with!  When's the big move?  I'm so excited and happy for you!  You are going to love it!

[NightOwl]

Oh, 'Roo!  congratulations on EVERYTHING! :! :#  Gee maybe if Toni gets away from Mi this winter she and I can get together with you and Cindy and maybe some of the others.  We could have our own little rally!!  :-()  :-()  :-()  :!

[Camperroo]

Hi, yes all your information was a tremendous, tremendous help to us.  When we all go camping, I'll cook us a great meal to thank you!!!   It made us really think and research so much info.   We've been thinking of this for so many months and trying to make the decision.  We stopped talking about it because we realized we just needed to deal with everything going on and focus on what needed to get done.  Sorry didn't mean to leave anyone out of the loop, but my life has been so crazy these last couple of months and we've had so many decisions to make.  DH went to FL (North of Tampa) a week ago to check out the area, homes and schools and just loved it!!!!  Also, I think I mentioned before, we do have some family in the area so it will feel more familiar.  We decided that we are just struggling too hard up here in MA and it's just not worth the stress of it all between cost of living, schools, etc.  We make a decent living but just absolutely can't get ahead at all here.  Since the car accident last summer I'm still not working the hours I use to be able to and that hasn't helped our income either.  Plus the thought of another winter just kills me to think about.  As it is, it's already May 24th and today was cold, damp and rainy and that makes me ache so much where I hurt my neck and back.   Makes me feel older than my time!!  DH says I need the warm/hot FL sunshine!!  Better than cold dampness anytime!   Seems like the last few years the springs are just becoming more miserable vs. what they were when I was a kid, warm comfy days where you didn't have to wear winter coats still, except maybe on occassion.   Just leaves us June (hopefully warm) July and August and then come Sept. it can lead right into cold and rainy right through to the winter snows....can't hack it anymore.  Spend more time inside than outside at this point.  The houses DH checked out were fantastic, literally a dream home we couldn't ever have here, but can have there and actually still have some money left over for a change!!  DH videoed everything for me and the kids to see and we were awestruck by it all and how nice it all looked.  DS loves the idea of year round baseball and golf and there's a hockey league out of Tampa for youth level also.  DD just wants a pool and lanai and warm weather.  She hates the cold!!  She's actually very excited about the change which is pretty good given she's in high school!!

Also have two friends who moved down to FL also, one just recently finished having her house built a few months ago and she and her husband and kids hope to be down by August for the start of school.  My other friend moved to Sarasota 3 years ago from MA and she said she'll never come back to MA.  They love the quality of life they have down there and her boys just love it too!!  So we are very excited, just the usual angst in dealing with the realization the kids are going to be leaving friends behind, which will sink in eventually, right now they don't even mention it,  and getting the house finished up here to sell.  So lots going on in the Florida plans.  I must watch the FL video at least once a day at this point!!

A mini rally with you and Elisa and whoever else wants to join us would be incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'll let you guys pick out the campgrounds because you'll know better than me at this point!!  Right now we're targeting to get there by September...we know the kids will miss the start of school there, but we spoke with their respective schools and they said just have them keep up with the required reading for the few weeks they'll miss.  Everyone's been so nice and helpful in our getting ready for the transition!!!