uno, dos, tres

You all know I sold my truck to buy another family vehicle. We were talking about either a 4 door Windstar or an Explorer. Not sure exactly how the Expolorer came up but we decided to give them a look as well. I bought an AutoTrader magazine and started making notes and phone calls. There turned out to be no Windstars that met our specs, which were pretty detailed - 4 door, quad seating, rear air, 3.8 liter v6. I didn't really want to buy one on eBay either as most of them that I see are quite a distance from here. We decided that we would go check out some Explorers.

Armed with a list of possibilities, addresses and phone numbers, printed out directions and blue book values, we went car shopping in Pensacola yesterday. After crawling into several nasty Explorers on dealer lots and talking with sales people who were as greasy as their vehicles it just wasn't looking too hopeful. There was one person who was selling privately and we decided to make them our last try before heading back to Crestview.

Turned out to be the one we were looking for, wish we would have stopped there first. Everything about it is just right and we're excited about picking it up this Saturday. This will be our 3rd vehicle that we've bought with cash, a very good feeling. Something we learned about paying with cash though, it takes a lot more time and patience to find the right one. When we bought our van, it was easy to stroll up to a nice dealer lot and sign a loan for a beautiful van. This time we had to hunt, shop around, be picky. I saved a ton of money, which is always worth my time.