Cars, the Continuing Saga

Dave and I left here on Thursday morning in the rental car, headed back to Frederick to get our now repaired 1997 Sable. The "nothing wrong" pronounced by the garage in Severna Park on Monday turned out to be an alternator and battery cable, something relatively cheap to repair. In "car speak," that translates to anything under $1000. However, we had dropped our 1999 Jeep off with a local mechanic here in Western Maryland before we ever headed east. Great week for vehicles!

We made the exchange of rental car for the Silver Sable Steed and drove on to Annapolis and a delightful evening with friends. Thursday evening Dave heard from our mechanic out here. Dave and I had both experienced a unique sound emanating  from the Jeep when we drove up steep hills on the Interstate. The mechanic could not duplicate the loud "thunking" sound in his shop. He made a suggestion about tires, but beyond that, he had no answers for us. He however, did not charge us anything because he did not find a clear problem that he could fix. Oh that the shop down east had the same policy!

Hmmmm. What to do next? On Friday Dave and I camped out with other family members as we waited together on the second floor lounge of Anne Arundel Medical Center. Thankfully, the surgery went well, and we had several hours' input from my brother and four nephews about, you guessed, it, CARS! Thanks to their input, earlier discussions Dave and I had, and the Internet, Dave had tons of information. We inched ever closer toward buying another car as my husband surfed the Web for low mileage Jeeps. Did we mention that the 1999 Jeep has 223,000 miles? Dave would find a potential vehicle, email the individual or auto salesperson, search for Car Fax, seek values given the options on each Jeep, and chat about it with me. The other five men own cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles. I heard more about 4-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive than I'll ever need to know!

The good news? The Silver Bullet, AKA, the 1997 Sable, took us into the Shenandoah Mountains and home to Western Maryland  without so much as a hiccup. However, a stop in Virginia resulted in the purchase of a 2005 Jeep with only 13,000 miles on it and a boat load of amenities! Sometime early next week Dave and I will return to Virginia and drive the "new" Jeep home. About the car name? I always name cars. The Sable drops down to the Silver Slug and the Jeep inherits the title the Silver Bullet.