All Good Things Must Come to an End

And so summer has past us by and with that we are ending the Routan Summer.

This has been a wonderful experience and we hope that everyone has enjoyed reading along with our summer adventures. We have had a great time writing about our trips in the wonderful VW Routan. Our hope is that we inspired you to get out and create your own exciting trips.

We have enjoyed our ride...now go out and enjoy yours!

Musings

Something I’ve been thinking about lately…

I really don’t like when it is raining and the temperature gauge in the car reads 42 degrees at eight o’clock in the morning when I am headed to the gym. Especially when I have dragged myself out of my warm bed to do this. Especially when it is 42 degrees and it is still EARLY fall. It makes me shiver just to think about it. I have found that what I DO like (a lot) is heated seats. Granted this is a feature in the Routan that I was hoping not to try out until at least mid-November, I am nonetheless very, very pleased. It is a treat. From my years as a runner, I know that if you can keep your feet dry and wear a hat to keep the heat from escaping your head, you can manage to keep yourself reasonably warm. I had no idea that you could warm your entire body through starting in your bottom.

Another thing that’s been on my mind while driving around in the Routan…

For the past few months, I have been driving the same route at about the same time every day to and from soccer practice at the high school where I coach. Certainly there are other people driving the same roads to and from their own daily activities at the same time each day. It would seem probable that our routes are intersecting at some point on a regular basis. In fact, there could be quite a few of these occurrences with different vehicles en route. However, I am terrible at noticing and remembering cars in this way unless they have a very distinguishable characteristic (like, say, the name of their blog plastered down the side of the car). I wonder how many of the drivers who see me on the road every day have been curious enough about what I might be doing to check out my Routan blog. Further, I wonder how many of these drivers might see me on the road every day and wonder about my travels in the Routan, but have never looked at the blog to find out. What about all the people who see the Routan parked at the school where I coach? If it were me, I’m pretty sure I would check out the blog. Maybe not the first time I noticed the Routan, but certainly if a pattern developed in the sightings of the blog-emblazoned vehicle.

And then there is this game I play with myself…

I invented this little pastime on a road trip this summer. On the satellite radio in the Routan, we have some of the station presets set to the ‘90’s channel, the ‘80’s, ‘70’s and ‘60’s channel. To play my game, all you do is select one of these decade stations and then guess what year within that decade the song that is playing was released. When you push the “info” button on the radio, the artist, song title and year are displayed revealing the correct answer. This activity proved very entertaining on our trips. It provided plenty of opportunities for nostalgic reflection as Dan and I worked chapters of our lives like puzzle pieces trying to figure out the exact year a song was released. This method worked fairly reliably for the ‘90’s and ‘80’s songs. We both rot at the ‘70’s. And I alone pretty much rock the ‘60’s…only because 1. I did grow up with a juke box in my basement and 2. This game, I admit, is a total rip-off of a game my dad used to play (and probably still does play) on car rides. He would turn on the oldies radio station in the car and at the start of each song would call out “The Dave Clark Five, 1964”, or “The Four Tops, 1966, or my favorite, “Anyone know this one? The Beach Boys, 1963”. The modern technology we are lucky enough to have on board the Routan simply adds a dimension to the game by making the verification of the year simple and immediate (though my brothers and I never doubted the validity of my dad’s confident declarations even without a resource on board our family station wagon for checking the info). So now, I find myself playing this game solo as I drive around town running errands with the kids in the backseat. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Summer 2009 in Photos

As we reach the end of summer, the weather turns cooler and the kids head back at school, it seems like a good time to reflect on the summer that we had. So I present to you the Routan Summer photo montage. A collection of some of our favorite trips and events that was the summer of 2009!

At the soccer fields (what a surprise!)

Belle is packed and ready to roll!

Down the Jersey Shore

Maggie & Ken's Wedding (unfortunately the bride and groom were too busy to pose for a photo)

Somewhere in central PA.

Lake Geneva in WI. Complete with dancing kid!

Canoe trip in Central Ohio

MUCH MORE TO COME!

P.S. - Leave us a comment and let us know about your summer adventures in the Routan.

Guest Blogger #1 – The Dad

Over the last few months you’ve heard from Meg about driving the new Routan. Well, we are a family of four and sometime the rest of us get to enjoy the van as well. As we move into the fall and school begins, Meg’s high school soccer coaching gig has shifted into high gear (Go Lady Warriors!) so she has turned over the writing responsibilities to some “guest bloggers.” Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. Enjoy.

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As mentioned above, I do get to enjoy driving the Routan…sometimes. Often, achieving this enviable feat is a product of a cunning ploy.

You’ve read about my ride in an earlier blog – the “no-frills economy car.” I love my car, but……

• It’s small
• It rattles
• It is zippy, but not powerful
• Only two and a half speakers work
• You can hear the road and wind as if it were a convertible with the top down

Now, understand that I drive a short distance to and from work on quiet non-highway roads, so this car is perfect. But sometimes it’s nice to drive something nice, smooth and fast, but getting the keys can be a sneaky proposition.

In the evening or on the weekend, I’ll take any trip.

• Need a book picked up at the library? – “I’m on it.”
• What? - That package needs to go to the post office? – “Be back in ten minutes.”
• The cardboard and paper need to go to the recycling center? – Score! (complete with Tiger Woods fist pump)
• Fresh basil from the grocery store? “See you…” Darn! It’s growing in the garden. “Fine (ho hum), I’ll just go pick some.”
  

But I think my favorite activity in the Routan is the Sunday Front Seat Racing Challenge!

To say that Meg and I can be a bit competitive (in a good, fun-loving way, of course) may be the understatement of the week. In the case of the Sunday Front Seat Racing Challenge, we are racing to be in the car, literally.

Our daughters invented the game one Sunday morning after church. The why and the how are lost now to history, but the game remains. The rules are simple; any time the family is traveling in the car on a Sunday, Meg and I must race to be the first one in their seat with the door closed. The other doors of the car (i.e. the sliding doors the girls get in) must also be closed prior to your own door being shut. (There used to be a seatbelt buckling element to it, but that took away from the excitement of slamming the door in victory.)

Sound simple? Yes, but it’s the implicit “rules” and the sabotage attempts by the girls that make it interesting. First, there is no running to get to the car. Speed walking is allowed, but running (for the adults) is out. Locking the doors using the key fob has happened and is not illegal, but considered poor sportsmanship - unless both players have a key fob (which we do not), and that kind of shenanigans would most likely only lead to a ruined electrical system anyway.

As a competitor you must always be aware you are playing. If you come out of the store and are carrying the bags, then those bags must end up in the trunk before you can race to your seat. If the other person has nothing, you’d better think fast and make sure there is something else they have to do.

Sabotage by one or both girls is allowed. I have yet to understand their motivations for sabotage, but have found their efforts mostly directed at me. Generally, Libby is on my side and Laine is Meg’s side, but their loyalties lie only in their own amusement. Both kids getting in the same door is a popular block tactic, or even just one getting in the car eexxttrraa sllooooow works nicely. And of course, even though they are able, they never close their own door.

As I mentioned above, I am often the target of the sabotage and most Sundays I lost “the race” three quarters of the time during the day. That was before the Routan.

Now, on Sunday mornings I’m the first one dressed and ready to go (though that is a minor victory since we are generally 5 minutes late for church every week – that’s just our “on-time”; at least we are consistent!) This ensures that I have the keys to the Routan and legal control of the game. It also gives me the first win of the day while the girls and I wait for Meg to finish getting ready. The girls’ hair may not be brushed, but they are in the car and can verify that I won.

Post-church, as we walk out and head for the Routan parked in its usual spot (someone is so nice to leave us a great space along the sidewalk even though we are late), the excitement builds ~ the first real race of the day!

It used to be the girls would pick a side of the car and once it was unlocked, open it with a never-ending pull, climb in as if their knees do not bend, and wait for the door to be closed.

Now, with the push of a button the sliding door on my side of the car opens from 10, 15, heck, 20 feet away and the girls (who have yet to realize that running ahead is helping me win) jump right in. I push the button again, and the door closes long before I even reach the car. Now it is a fair fight, between just me and my lady fair, but one which I’ve already rigged.

Upon arrival at church, after dropping the family off at the front door, I back the Routan (using the sweet rear view camera) into the parking space so the driver’s side door is closer to me when we come back out an hour later. This small maneuver saves me precious steps and seconds leading to more victories for me…many more victories for me, in fact!

Not to say that Meg does not fight back; she has been known to detain me at the rear of the van for a quick smooch, then rush around to her door. She does win a number of those, but really I think that I am the true victor even then. I’ll take the kiss every time even if it is planted primarily as a distraction technique. Call me distracted.

In the larger picture of Cleveland sports, this fall at least we will have one winner on Sundays…ME!

Checking It Out

They say that if you want something done, ask a busy person. By way of explaining how busy I am, suffice it to say that people keep asking me to do things.

It seems that several (most) evenings each week, I am off to a board meeting or committee meeting of one organization or another. When these meetings adjourn, carryover conversation often flows out into the parking lot as we all walk out to stretch our legs, gulp in some fresh air, and make our way to our cars.

We might get within ten yards of the Routan when there will be a break in the conversation and someone will pipe up, “So what’s the deal with the new car?” (The big blog stickers plastered on the car are not exactly inconspicuous.)

“You want to check it out?” (I know they do.) I move toward the car and proceed to click a few buttons on my key fob and the side doors roll open, the lift gate pops up, the engine turns over. I spend some time talking enthusiastically (but that’s just how I talk!) and showing off all the bells and whistles, then close the doors to better show off Volkswagen’s neat interior illumination.

Though it is a frequent comment in the presence of the Routan, there was one night recently when I actually wished afterwards that I had counted how many times one of my friends said, “That’s cool.” It easily numbered more than a dozen times.

As we’re talking (and gawking), the number of people moving around all sides of the vehicle, poking their heads in and out, makes me feel a bit like I’m the lead member of a pit crew sometimes. I feel like instead of pointing out the neat VW logo inside the headlamps, I should be demonstrating how fast I can change the tires (which is pretty respectably I think – thanks Dad!)

And then, when I finish my little show, we wrap up our conversations, and everyone is finally heading home, someone always asks, “So are we going to be in your blog now?”

Sure you are.

HI GUYS!

Getting There

Do you have that place? That place which is your favorite place to be in the whole world? For me, that place is not an island getaway or a faraway land. In fact, it is less than a seven hour car drive away from home (including one, and only one, quick stop for fuel and restroom break somewhere in the middle of Indiana), but it’s a world apart.

In every car that has ever held a choice piece of garage real estate in our home, there has been a folded piece of notebook paper tucked behind the sun visor above the passenger seat. Written on this now tattered scrap are directions to Fontana (on Geneva Lake), Wisconsin.

I don’t need these directions; I know the route by heart. I keep that paper there because it makes me think that I could just get in the car and go at any given time – just drive away to the magical land of Wisconsin. I do try to live in a world of reality most of the time, but just seeing this little piece of paper offers me a virtual escape any day of the year I might need one. (Often, a much needed escape during the dreary northeast Ohio winters.)

But this week, there’s no fantasy…it’s the real deal. On Friday afternoon, I slipped my hand behind that visor and brushed my fingertips along the tattered paper to make sure my Lake Geneva directions were in place as we prepared to hit the road for a week’s vacation.

Despite the Routan’s onboard navigation system, I insisted on bringing along our coffee table sized road atlas. (You can call me an “old dog”, I won’t take offense.) Dan stowed the atlas in the underfoot floor storage area for the trip. I balked, but in the end relented and grudgingly agreed to give the navigation system a try. (Though quite honestly, since we knew very well where we were going, I treated it more as a toy than a tool this time around.)

My assessment is this: I found the navigation system kind of cool; I like watching the little road map on the screen move along as we travel, but I’m still not sure how I feel about the sweet stubbornness I hear in our female “navigator’s” tone… “Prepare to turn left….Turn left now.” She is assertive, confident in her direction, and not too overbearing. There is, however, a somewhat artificial politeness to her voice…her tone gives the impression of being well-bred, but never once does she say the word “please.” Her tone makes me sure that she must be beautiful…and probably stuck-up. I don’t know….I’m just saying that maybe sometimes she could maybe try a friendly, “Hey, go ahead and hang a left up there.” You know, like a real road-tripping companion. I suppose I can’t fault her too much; she might be lacking in personality, but she certainly does know where she’s going.

And this time, I know where I’m going, too. Because I’ve got the directions written across my heart.

And my Hardt is at Lake Geneva.

*Dedicated to family, good fun, good food, and finding a place to lay your head… To all my family, however you may navigate your way to The Lake. Big love and extra special thanks to E1!

Good Auto Hygiene

Our first big road trip in the Routan went absolutely swimmingly. The driving was the best you could ask for – completely uneventful for 400 miles there and 400 miles back; no traffic hang-ups, no construction zones, no speed traps. In the front seat, we spent some time surfing the satellite radio and found ourselves singing along to the power ballads on the all ’80s channel for a good 45 minutes. And for several hours we became enthralled in an audio book while the girls watched DVD after DVD (listening on the wireless headsets) and colored through several coloring books in the back.

We have a pretty efficient and established method of unpacking the car when our family returns home from a trip. Seemingly before he has even cut the engine in our driveway, Dan has hauled our luggage into the house and straight to the correct traveler’s bedroom. This is followed by the unloading of our backseat cooler’s remaining drinks and snacks. I collect and organize all our car trip “stuff” from inside the vehicle and assign items to our children with instructions for putting it away in the house and to “come right back for more.” Child car seats are pulled out and given a good shake. Any loose garbage is gathered into a plastic bag to toss right away, and then a once over the entire vehicle for any remaining miscellany. Lock the doors, close the garage, and say goodnight. As I drift to sleep, I smile thinking of the next morning when I will set about a thorough post-trip cleaning of the Routan, inside and out.

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By 10:00am I’ve got out my Shop-Vac. I’m attaching the crevice tool. Windex in hand and trigger finger itching to tackle the windows and mirrors. But first come the suds. I disappear briefly around the side of the house to drag out the garden hose, and the children materialize on the driveway (it’s as if they have hose radar). “Can we help wash the car?”

There’s something extra satisfying about cleaning a new car. All of us battling the dirt, road grime and flattened bugs smeared on the hood, and anticipating the Routan’s pre-trip polished blackness awaiting us underneath.

When the exterior is gleaming, I move inside to vacuum and wipe down the entire interior. It is gratifying work. Everything looks clean and fresh, but deep inside I know that with each swipe of my cloth, I am merely (vainly?) fighting the inevitability that one day my rockin’ Routan ride will no longer pass as brand new.

At what point does it start to lose that luster?

Perhaps you get caught up in life and you neglect to clean or vacuum the car for a few weeks. Maybe it happens to be during winter road salt season, or in early spring when the ground outside is soft and muddy. (I’m actually gritting my teeth at the thought of this slop invading my spotless Routan.) Maybe you just don’t have the chance to clean up a spilled drink or melted bit of chocolate right away and it goes forgotten for days until the stain is set. (I’m cringing, but we all know it happens.) You can’t say for sure when that day will come, or how long it will be before you realize for the first time that it just doesn’t have that new car glow any more.

Well, not in this car.

An illustration from our recent trip:

After a quick break at a rest stop for fuel, food, and facilities, I handed over driving duty to Dan and climbed into the “stewardess” seat. As we pulled out of the parking lot, the girls excitedly pulled open their Happy Meals back in the third row seat. We had just barely made it to the top of the entrance ramp from the rest stop back onto the interstate when a small voice from the rear piped up. “Mom, I spilled my drink and I can’t reach it.” Now I knew she ordered Sprite which, at least, is clear…but it is still sticky…and wet. Steam began pouring from my ears mere seconds before my head exploded. (Well, almost.) I smacked Dan on the thigh and yelled, “Pull over!” Knowing better than to argue or question what I have in mind, he immediately complied. (Wise man.) With a tractor-trailer chugging up the ramp behind us, I threw open my door, grabbed the roll of paper towels and box of wet wipes (conveniently stowed under the passenger seat) and raced to the rear lift gate which Dan had already opened automatically with a push of a button from the driver’s seat (can I say just one more time how cool that is?!). In less than 30 seconds, I blotted up the Sprite with a handful of paper towel, completed a quick wipe down of the side panel where some of the pop had splashed, replaced the cup in the hands of the child with swift admonishment, pressed the button to close the trunk, and dove back into the front seat. Dan re-entered highway traffic without a word. I breathed a long, satisfied breath.

Sticky, icky, dirty, grimy mess in the new Routan?

Oh, no. Not in this car.

Meg – 1, Spilled Drink – 0.

The moral of the story is....

To call my husband’s car an economy vehicle is an understatement. It gives a new meaning to the phrase “no frills”. But it does have cup holders. This is something I discovered by mistake.

When we purchased the car in 2004, we really weren’t looking for anything special…Our requirements were few; it had to run and it had to be relatively inexpensive. (Who am I kidding? It had to be cheap!) The idea was just to have something for him to drive to work and back. Right away, we found a car that fit the bill exactly; it was a nice enough car, but nothing terribly special. It wasn’t until we got it home that we realized it didn’t even have any cup holders. We both shrugged it off, “Oh well. You can’t have everything.” We were still pleased with our find.

For Father’s Day that year, my daughters and I gave Dan a cup holder accessory that I found in an auto parts store. It held two cups and had a flange on the bottom that was meant to be stuck down between the seat cushions to hold it in place. The only problem was that the car did not have any “between the seat cushions.” It had two seats in the front with the gear shift in between. With some creative engineering and duct tape, we made it work. It stayed this way for months.

I often drive this car when I go to my soccer games and I am in the habit of taking off my earrings, rings, or watch and stashing them in the change compartment when I go to play. One night I reached down to pull out the tray, and I felt it slide out much further than it ever had before. For a split second, I thought I had yanked it right out and broken it. With trepidation, I looked down, and wasn’t I surprised to see a collapsible dual cup holder in my hand?! I had accidentally reached down just a bit further than normal and discovered the cleverly hidden treasure. Happy accident!

The moral of the story is, read your automobile’s owner’s manual; your car is probably cooler than you think it is.

Now, I already think the Routan is pretty cool, but I know it still has many secrets to share. It is undoubtedly even cooler than I already think it is; time to dig out that owner’s manual!

So far, I’ve been playing along with discovering fun features by mistake or by trial and error. (Just last week I discovered that there are volume and tuner controls for the radio on the backside of the steering wheel so the driver can adjust the volume or change the station without ever taking her hands off the wheel.) However, as we are preparing for our first big road trip with the Routan, I think it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and do a little research. The girls have already found the retractable sun screens for the rear windows (cleverly hidden in the sill trim panels), and they have carefully selected which stuffed animals and video games they will take on the trip, so as far as they are concerned we are ready to go! If only it were that simple.

Believe it or not, we have not yet used the video entertainment system or the navigation system in the vehicle. I have poked around at the navigation system a bit, but I don’t really have any idea what I am doing. Same goes for the satellite radio. (However, I know Dan has got the satellite radio under control, because there sure seem to be plenty of presets that I know I did not select. NHL radio, anyone? It’s not even hockey season!) Being the primary driver of this vehicle, I have found that it is not advisable to try to figure this stuff out while driving (somewhere my mother is ardently nodding her head), so my mission for tomorrow is to pull out the owner’s manual and bone up on all the fun stuff we will try out on our trip. I will need to be well-versed in the operation of the video system, wireless headsets, front and rear a/c controls, radio, navigation system and mini-trip computer. As anyone who has travelled eight hours in a car with children can tell you, when I am not driving I will be busy playing stewardess. In addition to changing DVD’s, passing out snacks, acting as the “20 Questions” moderator, and climbing over the cooler to retrieve dropped crayons, I will be called upon to be complete systems administrator and I don’t want to fall short of my crowd’s high expectations. We’ll see how it all works out!

See you on the road!

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A quick anecdote:
We took the kids to the pool on Saturday, and they each brought along a friend. There was a lot of chatter in the back of the Routan as the girls excitedly showed off their favorite features to their friends. Top of the list, of course, were the flip-down overhead video screens with remote control, but even the storage bins and cup holders seemed to impress. I overheard one of the friends exclaim, “The only thing that would make this car even better would be if it had a built-in popcorn machine and licorice stand!” I chuckled to myself at that.

I’m not sure that I would be entirely surprised to find that it were true – riding in the Routan does conjure some similarities to being a kid in a candy store. I guess I’ll have to consult the owner’s manual on that popcorn machine and let you know what I find out!

Horsepower

Last month, my daughter and I, along with her Girl Scout troop, went on an overnight trip to a horse farm near Jackson, Ohio. That weekend, I rode a horse for the very first time in my life. My steed was an enormous white horse named Martini. (Hers was much smaller, brown, and called Chocolate Chip.) Martini was absolutely wonderful, and I actually felt very natural up in the saddle. I could feel the definitive power of the horse’s 1,200 lb. body with his every footfall far below me as we marched around the ring. It was invigorating. One horse. Power.

I was thinking about our trip to that farm, and the horses, and Martini while I was driving the Routan on a mission to check out a fabric store with a friend this week. Thoughts of horses brought my mind around to how interesting I find it that we still discuss the power of an automobile’s engine in terms of “horsepower.” In the early days of the automobile it made sense; it was something common folks could relate to. Prior to upgrading to a Model T Ford, one might have driven a wagon pulled by just two horses. Those two horses could haul an entire family and all their worldly possessions. Now maybe they wouldn’t be travelling more than a few miles per hour, but regardless, horses are pretty powerful creatures for just two of them to pull off that stunt. The engine in the Model T is said to have been about 20 horsepower. Twenty horses – that’s fathomable. You can create a picture of that in your mind if you’re a guy who is used to driving a pair of horses.

Have you ever watched the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day? In addition to the stunning flower-covered floats, the parade is known for its large number of equestrian groups. I believe there were over 300 horses in last year’s Rose parade. If you have not seen it, let me illustrate for you. In one unit, there might be a group of 25 horses arranged in five neat rows of five, and that is really a sight to see. But now try to picture ten times that many horses – 50 rows of horses, five abreast, stretching several city blocks. I can do the math, but I was struggling to envision how far down the highway in front of me my team of 253 horses would stretch as I cruised down the entrance ramp and prepared to merge onto I-71 that day. That is the Routan I am driving – 253 horsepower. Crazy, right?! (Ok, I know it’s no 600hp Corvette, but c’mon, this is a MINIVAN!) To put in perspective the reason this is so impressive to me, the minivan I have previously been driving has a 158hp engine; that means that the Routan is nearly 100 horses-worth more powerful than the vehicle I have been driving for the past six years.

I will be the first to admit that I am not much of a gearhead…I know very, very little about the engineering and mechanics of a car, but I do know what I like. I like powerful, and I like fast. The Routan does not disappoint.

Here’s a typical scenario of me driving my old minivan and getting on the interstate:

The motor roars, the car hesitates and seems to pull back away from me as I press the accelerator to the floor, wrap my white knuckles tighter around the steering wheel, and lean forward in my seat willing the car to pick up enough speed to move into traffic without getting rear-ended in the process.

The Routan? Nope. None of that. This vehicle merges like no minivan has a right to. On my excursion that day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had smoothly accelerated into traffic without my giving it a second thought. I was cruising along in the center lane before I even realized my entrance was complete. I turned to my friend in the passenger seat and said, “Wow. That was pretty awesome!” She threw me a sort of puzzled look. She does not drive a minivan, so I explained that in my experience, minivans just don’t do that.

It seems that the Routan does!

Swinging into the left lane and accelerating effortlessly past two schmoes talking on their cell phones, I was reminded once again of the physical power of my buddy, Martini, one single horse. And then I smiled with giddy thoughts of the 253 horses I am sitting on now. Yee-ha!

The Neighbors are Jealous.

There’s a new car in my driveway this afternoon, and it’s a very different car; it’s a Volkswagen Routan SEL. Certainly, it is the first one in our little suburban town. (My husband tells me “No,” he doesn’t think it is; he has seen a white Routan around lately. Hmpff.) I am thrilled. The marketing materials bill it “A Stylish Alternative to the Minivan.” It IS pretty cool. I have never driven a “new” car; all of my cars have been “previously owned.” I am anxious to get my hands on the keys.

My girlfriends from the neighborhood come right over for a look – they yell inside my house for Dan to bring out the keys…they want to get inside. Another neighbor leans over the fence for a peek. Others crane their necks as they walk their dogs past our house and I press the button that opens the sunroof.

My friends are funny; there are a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as Dan demonstrates all the fancy features. (This baby has ALL the bells and whistles!) Automatic open sliding doors, automatic power trunk lift gate, dual DVD players, satellite radio and, of course, the third seat automatically folding into the floor and back out again over and over…That really is a work of genius. And I haven’t even gotten to the part yet that caused one friend to actually speak the words, “I am so jealous.” Rear windows that roll down. Yes, for those of us who are regularly driving 2000 and 2001 minivans with kids and dogs packed into the back, this is the single most enviable feature. Not the 4.0L V6, 253 horsepower engine or the safety features that are among the best in its class. Wow! But no, it’s not that. It’s the windows. Rear windows that roll down.

This summer, I’ll be cruisin’ in this sweet ride. Can’t wait to fill you in on all our adventures!

NOTE: I know you’re going to ask, because it’s the first question I would ask. It’s the first question anyone asks when they learn you’re driving a new car…. It’s black. With gray leather interior.

-Meg