Today we picked up our fun new ride.
It’s important for me to emphasize that it’s our car, not my car. For the twenty-five years of our marriage, Pepper has always ended up driving the “practical” vehicle. She had the Eagle that we crammed everyone into, and the Odyssey for carting kids around on trips, and then the CR-V so we can haul our jet skis to the lake. At the same time, I drove my sporty little two-door Saturn, then my sporty little two-door Civic. So I had the “fun” cars (even though she hates driving stick).
Fast forward to Montana, where we’ve discovered that our driveway is nightmarish in the winter and simply doesn’t suit a front-wheel-drive vehicle. Since we plan to sell the Civic to Zaque when he returns from his mission, we started looking around for a new car. At the top of the list is all-wheel drive. I’d love to just get another Civic, but they don’t come with AWD. Nor do the Accords. The only Hondas with that feature are the CR-V and Pilot… well, we already have a CR-V, and the Pilot is a big lumbering tank. So I looked at Toyotas, another great line of cars, but I didn’t want a Rav (too big), and the Camry and Avalon aren’t really exciting.
With our imminent installation of solar panels, and a state with one of the lowest costs for electricity in the country, I started thinking about a Tesla. Of course they have a reputation for being pretty swanky and expensive, but the Model 3 is a little more affordable. With no Tesla dealerships anywhere in Big Sky Country, we had to test drive one in Utah. We liked it. A lot. So we ordered one. But with chip shortages and supply-chain problems and Tesla doing things differently than, well, everyone else, we wouldn’t be able to take delivery until September. Sigh.
But yesterday, on a whim, I called a sales guy at the Spokane Tesla dealership and asked if they happened to have a car with the same specs as what I’d ordered. They did! I asked if I could pick it up… immediately? Sure thing. So we hopped in the CR-V and drove four hours out to Spokane, spent literally five minutes signing two pieces of paper, and drove four hours back home in our slick blue electric car.
Remember: it’s not my car. It’s our car.