Field Trippin'

In all our 15 years of marriage, Trav and I have 

been fairly level headed when it comes to making decisions.

Last weekend however, we began questioning that level headedness as we flew out

to Chicago to pick up our new car!!!

That's right!

CHICAGO!!

With my Dad building a cabin in Bear Lake, us outgrowing Trav's truck,

and also wanting to be able to pull our boat,

we decided it was time for 4 wheel drive.

Before we bought our van, we had looked seriously at Nissan Armada's.

So, Armada's are what we looked at first again.

We've always liked the look of them,

 but completely LOVED the convenience of a van with a family.

I pulled up KSL, all day, every day for a week solid!

I had dealers looking everywhere for an Armada for me.

It didn't take us long to realize,

that in order for us to get all of the same options our van had in an Armada,

it would cost us anywhere from 5-7,000$ more than our budget could handle.

Just as we were starting to think maybe we'd have to start looking at something else,

or save up and make a purchase later down the road,

I got a little idea to pull up Ebay.

I've known a few people who have purchased cars online and gone to get them somewhere.

No sooner had I pulled up Ebay, 

the PERFECT Armada came up on the screen.

To make a long story short......

We called the dealer and made a deal outside of Ebay.

Payment was shipped, papers were signed and we now owned a vehicle in Chicago Illinois.

I had a shipping company all lined up to bring it home.

But, due to the dealership missing the shipment that Thursday night,

and due to the snow storms back East....

they were now 2 weeks out being able to get our car sent to our house.

We started getting really nervous Friday morning.

They now had our money and our car,

and we had just bought this thing sight unseen.

We started really questioning what on earth we had just done.

The dealer started to seem a little fishy, etc. 

We checked flights out for Saturday a.m.

They had come down 100$ a ticket!

Trav and I ran the numbers and realized with the flights being as cheap as they were,

it made more sense, and was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper to just go get the thing ourselves.

That's just what we did.

We found sitters for the kids, booked our flights and were out of here at 6 a.m. Saturday morning!

 

 

We hired a taxi right outside of the airport and headed to McGrath's Lexus in Westmont Illinois,

about 30 minutes outside of Chicago.

Stinks we didn't have time to visit the city and make it really worth our trip.

Trav had to be to work Monday Morning,

and I had a field Trip with Ty!

No time to waste.

In order to make it back Sunday night, we had to leave the dealership by 1 p.m.

It was now just after Noon, and we had 1400 miles to go til home!

We were surprised to learn that in Chicago, rather than men holding signs begging for money,

they sell cotton candy to drivers as they wait to enter the freeway!

They were raking it in that day!!!

And.....I have to say, it was nice to see them working for it and offering something for the money!

However..... thoughts do go through your mind about just where that cotton candy is made!

The driver wasn't quite sure either!

(Trav inspecting our new car as soon as we pulled up.)

We went in and met our salesman, Scott.

Here we were, two little Mormon people from Utah with our luggage in tow,

at a swanky Lexus dealership where other customers had rings on every finger

and poodles with gem encrusted collars in tow!

Pretty hilarious these people waiting on their Lexus and us on our "People Mover!"

We were handed the key and we left.

Now, I wish I could say it was everything we dreamed it would be and

that we were completely satisfied.

We weren't.......at first.

We were told it was in awesome condition and completely detailed, and never smoked in.

It smelled like a hotel room, was vacuumed at best, 

and was making a few noises that were a little concerning!

While we were somewhat disappointed, we realized we got it for a steal,

could fix the couple things that were wrong and sell it before paying taxes and could actually make money on the whole thing!

We also realized it was an adventure.....something we had never done,

and would totally do differently had we to do it all over again.

We would have just planned to go get it in the first place with the money in hand,

check it out and then work out a deal, either after it was fixed,

 or talk them down more in order to fix it.

Lesson learned.

The drive, which we thought would be long and awful turned out to be long and not too bad.

We were together.  Time to just sit in silence and sing our favorite songs.

Time to talk about the kids.

Time to enjoy the beauty of the earth around us.

And.....time to load every ounce of that vehicle with scented car tree fresheners!

Back row, second row, center console and dashboard 

were all decorated with "New Car" scented trees!

That helped!!

We drove part of Illinois, all of Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and then into Utah.

I have to say my favorite was Iowa.

Loved the rolling hills and farm houses! 

Iowa.....

 

Nebraska.....

 Welcome to Omaha!!

 (We started our Ragnar training while we were gone.....can you tell?)

We stayed the night in Kearney, Nebraska.

I know.....we never heard of that before either!

Wyoming.....

 (At least we probably beat the transport truck our car Should have been on!!!)

 

 

 

 

For Valentine's Day I found this pack of cards at Smiths.....I bought them more as a joke.

But, I carried them with me on this trip and somewhere, in the middle of Wyoming,

I opened them up.

Trav and I spent the next couple of hours, taking turns asking questions to the other.

I think we'd both admit that was fun!

"What was your most embarrassing moment?" 

"If you only had time to say good-bye to one person, who would it be and why?"

"Where was your first kiss?"

"What person do you admire the most, and why?"

"If you could help one person change their life, who would it be?

Etc.

We made it home, safe and sound about 8 p.m.

Next thing I knew....we were all on our bed asking the kids some of these same questions!

Julia has requested we do that a few more times!

Who knew those silly cards would provide so 

much entertainment and thought provoking conversations!

Monday morning I got up and got dressed for a field trip to the Symphony with Ty.

He was so excited when I signed up to go with him.

 A few days after we found out I was picked to go,

I had a RS meeting that I had to dress up for.

I will never forget coming home that night, standing by the counter pouring a glass of milk,

and Ty walking up to me with a sweet little smile on his face and whispering to me,

"Mom, you should totally wear that dress on our field trip. 

You look really nice in it!"

Little did he know at that moment, I would have given that little kid anything he asked for!

How sweet was that?!!!

 

 

I loved my time with Ty.....even if he did make me rub his head the entire Symphony!

He is a special one, that boy!

He is as aggressive and rough as they come on the field or the court,

but outside of sports, he is the most tender-hearted, kindest,

 "give you the shirt off his back" kind of boy.

He melts my heart.

 

(The wild group I was responsible for!)

Now, back to our new car.

It was taken straight to the Nissan Riverdale Service center.

Thank heavens Trav has connections there!

They took a look at it......while I waited in their toy room with Austy...

Praying I hadn't just driven 1400 miles for a lemon!

Diagnosis......

A few things wrong, but for the most part....."Yes, you got an AWESOME deal!"

Good news?

Majority covered under the drive train warranty!!!

WHEW!!!!

We had it detailed as well, and were told to place

 cups of vinegar in the car and that would do the trick!

IT REALLY WORKED!!!

Good as new and we love it!

Our van was placed on KSL as soon as we knew the new one was a keeper,

and was gone in less than 10 hours.

I cried when it drove off.

I know, weird!

I get attached to the dumbest things.

 We are now busy playing in the State AAU basketball Tournament 

in SLC for the next 2 weeks.

Only problem is.....we can't afford the gas! 
Ha ha ha!!

Loving the field trips and the time spent with family, 

and cannot wait until Spring!!!