New Car - Part One

It's that time of year again when you drive your old beater to a safety and emissions bay of any old Oil & Lube shop, heart pounding and wiping your sweaty palms on your pants, praying that your car passes, just so you can register the thing.

Matt and I have lived in Utah just over 3 years now and every time we take Matt's car in for the testing, we end up with a laundry list of things to fix before anyone will give us a pass. Well, this year, the list was just a little too long and much too expensive to dwell on. so, what do we do?

Trade it in for a 2008 Jeep Patriot.

And, I actually fit pretty nicely in it. YAY!! (Anyone over 6' will appreciate this...)

So, we went in on a Saturday, made the trade, and since our credit union was closed, had to wait to sign paperwork until the next week.

So there we sat, Saturday night, reveling in the excitement of a new car when Mom and Dad asked if we were going off-roading with them the next day. Of course we went! This things got four-wheel drive, baby!

We had a blast, although it's quite different when you're off-roading in a vehicle that is yours (if not quite technically, yet). I was a bit stressed out and made myself take deep breaths. Often. We only scrapped bottom a few times, and learned when to get out and move the bigger boulders out of the way. Tip of the day: when an F-250 hits a rock, the Jeep will most definitely hit the rock.

Bryan had a blast! He was exaggerating the bumps and yelling WEEE!!! Wahoo!!!! for about an hour. Then he got sick of it and wanted lunch.

On our way home, Bryan zonked out for a much needed nap. Coming around a bend in the road, we almost hit a whole herd of sheep! The Uintas have open range for local farmers and for miles and miles we saw traces of the herd's passing. We had to wade through a couple of them...

So, here's some pics: