A few Fridays ago the Toyota Camry started to idle real rough and the Check Engine light came on. It appeared that the old car was finally on its last legs. We bought the Camry in early 2000 soon after we were married and Jennifer started a new job half-way across Houston. We thought it would be safer for her. Soon after we bought it, she was in an accident: rear-ended while waiting at a light. (This is pre-Frenchville so I don’t have any pictures online). She was okay, but we were worried about Abby, who was still inside Jennifer’s belly at the time. In fact I was waiting at her doctor’s appointment to check on the baby. This was also a time before mobile phones. She had one, but I didn’t. So, I had no idea where she was and why she was late. She finally rolled up to the doctor appointment crying and the back-end of the car totally smashed in. I was surprised she was even able to drive it from the west side of Houston to Clear Lake, where we were living at the time.

Well, it was time to say good-bye to the old Camry. We drove two of our girls home from the hospital after they were born in that car and it was pretty dependable over the ten years we owned it. We had already sunk a lot of money into the Sequoia and when the brakes went out and now potential issues with the engine, it was time.

Since we had had so many problems with the Sequoia, I had pretty much sworn off Toyota. I wanted to “buy American” and I wanted a truck again. I hadn’t actually had a new car that I could call “mine” since 1996, so this time I was going to be the one choosing the vehicle. The only condition I had was I wanted the Ford SYNC system so that I could throw away my old tape deck audio cable that I used to plug into my iPhone to listen to podcasts. It was time to move into the 2010’s and not the 1990’s. The SYNC system has a USB port so that it will index the songs on my iPhone and then I can play what I want through the voice activated system. For example, “Play artist Pink Floyd” or “Play playlist Podcasts”. It’s great. It also allows me to make phone calls hands-free.

I looked at several cars and trucks on the lot, but ended up with the Sports Trac. It was a combination Ford Explorer and pick-up truck. The cab is large enough for the whole family and I have room in the bed of the truck if I need to get something at Home Depot.

I’ve been driving it around for a week now and I’m loving it.