MiCasaLoca

Chronologies of a Land Rover Addition, or, “No, It’s Not a Jeep” Part Two

Dave was the owner of the Land Rover that we purchased this weekend. He had an 8 year old girl who was very cute, but she was not talking to John, as she was very unhappy. She looked adorable in the picture with her black soccer shorts, but the poor girl didn’t know that by posing in the pictures as a door opener, it would be one of her last dates with the rhino chaser. She loved the Land Rover and John was an evil troll coming to take it from her (not really her words). I understand. I think that there are a lot of girls who fall in love with cars at early ages in spite of all the media that portrays us as Barbie huggers. Maybe we are smarter as girls because we don’t want to fool around with model cars at an early age. Instead, we go for the real stuff. I had an early love with a two door no-air cond. sports car that my parents sold while living in Puerto Rico; later I had a love for my Dad’s blue Ford pickup truck where I carved the initials of my first love (not John, but Ken-and we aren’t talking Barbie’s boyfriend either). I also learned to drive the Ford in a hayfield at the age of fifteen and that’s quite a feat considering it was stick-shift and I had to be careful and not hit the men throwing the hay bales in the back. Then, finally, there was the mini van that I sort of took over during my senior year of high school. Talk about a classic!

My own Mari fell in love with our old black jeep Wrangler at the early age of 6 and didn’t understand why we wanted to part with the car. There were many tears and questions that we really couldn’t answer to satisfy her needs as to why the car had to go. This last Sunday I couldn’t be sure if Mari was anxious for Daddy to return because she missed him or because she was excited about the Land Rover that had a real ladder on the back "just for kids to climb on" as I had said. As we are about to honor the tradition of naming our Rover, I have to consider that as the Land Rover lost one adoring young fan, it has acquired another equally adoring fan. There should be a name to describe this wonderful girlish love of cars.

Chronologies of a Land Rover Addition, or, “No, It’s Not a Jeep”

This is the beginning of a series of entries about our newest addition to our family. As I tend to introduce stories in the middle and then later fill in the details later, I have decided this would the best approach rather than bore myself writing in all the details of how, why, and what before getting to the "juicy" details. These details are really for car, history, and number fanatics as the rest of the world falls asleep over stories about cars.

Before I begin, let's drool over a picture of our new addition.  Here is John and Dave in front of the 1974 Series III 109 SW that will take us on many camping (and hiking) adventures. 

Just for funsies, here's another picture of John demonstrating what it is like to have your ears fall over in 10 degree weather.  Note the placement of the driver's seat.

John came home tonight at 9:30. He had a weekend of adventure, starting by flying out to Iowa, a little-known state that I believe none of our family members, including ancestors, to have ever been to. Mari was very upset that she wasn’t able to go to this other country that Daddy was "gonna get to go to." We explained to her several times that Iowa was one of our 50 states. We didn’t mention that it was a Red state; she probably would have insisted that we not purchase the vehicle from a Bush supporting state, regardless of the idea that perhaps the seller was Democratic. In fact, we would probably have had to lie to her and tell her that he was pro Kerry before she wouldn’t have let John out of the house. I am not sure where Mari decided to become so passionate about politics except that John and I are very passionate about certain ideals, anyway, so it's probably natural for her to pick her own "soap boxes" to stand on and "preach" from.  Personally, I don't care if The Home Depot supports the RNC as long as their employees are friendly and can help me find the best bird feeders and 2x4's.  I would hate to see the RNC lose support as I think our country needs at least two large organizations pointing fingers at each other, blaming the other for everybody's greed and mistakes.  Democratics...Republicans...sometimes the line is so blurred I am not sure which side I am stepping on.  Still, I really wouldn't lie to Mari about the Land Rover's previous owner's political stance, but teach her to be open-minded.  I am tired of labels for each side.  Can't a Christian be a Democrat?  Can't an African American be a Republican?  I should think so.  Anyway, I digress....   

Initially, John and I wanted to travel together to see the vehicle; better still, the three of us wanted to make the trip to Iowa but it was a bit cost-prohibitive, so in the end, it was decided that John should go as he was the best expert on Land Rovers. I was second in line as I can at least recognize a good car from a bad one, and Mari was third as she desired anything that could be "climbed" on.

Unfortunately, after a wild weekend of cleaning the house with Laura, I wasn’t able to start the entries about our Land Rover and John is now home, looking handsomely rugged. He is tired, and wants to go to bed; funny enough, someone smells like gasoline in here and it’s not me.  I mean, I was only in the Land Rover for 20 minutes.  Mari is very excited about the idea that the vehicle will always smell like gas;  she loves the smell of gas. 

In the dark, the Rover looked great.  I was suprised by how comfortable the interior was.  And the amount of head room was suprising compared to the 109 Rover that we saw in Philly.  Maybe it had something to do with the seats or the fact that we were in the dark.  It was also immaculate, minus John's half empty soda bottle.  Don't tell John this, but I could see a lot more than an additional baby car seat.  I could see a toddler seat fit in just nicely next to a baby car seat.... 

Well, since the guy says he's tired-why, I don't know, I mean, after all, he only drove 24 hours.  Gee, complain complain!  So we are off to bed and I will have to blog some other night.

The selfish part of blogging this whole experience is that it guarantees that John will read my blog, finally, without my constant asking of him. My biggest writing advocate doesn’t have me under his favorites on his email at work. Aughhhhh!!!!!!