New (to us) Car!

One of the things on our "To-Do" list is to buy a 4 wheel drive car, specifically, a Subaru (since Mike is a Subaru expert and we'll save big bucks in maintenance!). We didn't want to purchase a new car or even a car we couldn't pay cash for, because having a car payment is not a burden we want. It makes much more sense to us to buy a car you can pay outright for. Something reliable and efficient. Insurance and repairs are also cheaper on, say, a Toyota or Honda, versus an Audi or Mercedes. A car gets you from point A to point B, and that is it's purpose. Do not believe that a car validates you. You are who you are, no matter what you drive.

So with that in mind, the last month and a half or so, we've been searching and searching on Craigslist. We even took a jaunt all the way to Pacoima, to look at a too-good-to-be-true car.

The car in Pacoima turned out to be a hoarder's car! I so wish I had a picture of it to show you, but it would have been rude. Instead, I give you this picture of an exact same Subaru, in the exact same state, to get an idea of how shocked we were when we saw it:

I mean, seriously...you're selling a car! Wouldn't you think, "geez, I should make this look as pretty as possible so I can sell this thing?" But to be fair, maybe that WAS as pretty as they could make it. They also had a bunch of junk in their yard, so I guess they wouldn't have anyplace to put the junk in their trunk!

In the end, we wound up with a very nice used Subaru, that already had the head gaskets redone and was in good shape. I present to you, our new-to-us Subaru Forester:

The funny thing is, this 1998 Forester has more upgrades than my 2005 Toyota Corolla. The Forester has power windows and door locks, whereas my Corolla was manual. LOL.

It feels so good to be checking things off our To Do list. One step closer to Bend!