Jude's One Smart Cookie....

Of course, we already knew that!

But, what I'm referring to is my recent post about losing a Love.

No, I'm not a swinging bisexual, as Lainy and Tracey might think, with a Lady Love on the side - well...not a human one, anyway! Okay, Jude, what gave it away? I think I know, but do tell!

I had to say goodbye last week to Calleigh, my 1998 Jeep Wrangler. She was my refuge in many a storm, rhetorically speaking. I bought her with some of the money my Mom left me when she passed away. I'd decided I needed something I could count on to make me happy, because losing Mom made me come close to losing it, as Orion and Two Wolves will undoubtedly attest.



Prior to purchasing Calleigh, I drove a 1990 Mazda van. Very nice vehicle, and a pleasure to drive. But, I needed something "fun" in my life. And TW introduced me to the joys of Jeeping after he bought his Jeep. A weekend with the wind blowing my hair into knots brought more peace to my sad and tortured mind than I'd felt for awhile; I decided a Jeep needed to be a vital part of my life. And, I began looking. And soon she came to live with me.

Fast forward five years. Calleigh is still a spry young woman, nearly ten years old, with low enough miles that I needed to decide whether or not to spend extensive money on fixing her up or to think about trading her in. Her front end connected with a deer, and bruised her up some, and last February's accident had broken her hip up a bit, but she kept right on loving and taking care of me. And, I still feel guilty that it was time to move forward with a hard decision.

You see, I made a mistake one evening of driving through the car dealer's lot to drool over the new 4-door Wranglers. Talk about LUST! I wanted one of those. I drove one and wanted it even more. And, then I began crunching numbers to see what possibilities there might be.

Pretty much slim and none. No effing way in Hades I wanted a car payment like that! So, I simmered down, deciding to wait another year or so until some 4-doors hit the used lots. Then I'd consider one.

But, on one of my drool trips, we decided to compare prices of the 4-doors to the regular Wranglers. Not surprisingly, there wasn't a whole lot of difference, maybe around $4K. So, I figured this round of car lust was done for a year and prepared to head for home. Then we saw a couple of used Wranglers on down the row.

Turned out one of 'em was a 2006 Wrangler Unlimited. That's a Jeep which is a little bigger than Calleigh. In fact, it sits on the same sort of wheel base as the 4-doors. It has a bit more cargo space and more back seat room. And, joy of joys, it had a hard top and full doors with real windows. (One feature of Calleigh I hated, was the rag-top zipper windows. They're a pain in the arse in a Midwestern winter, believe me.) And someone had forgotten to lock the cargo area in the Unlimited, so I peaked inside and saw...a RAG-TOP. The best of both worlds when you own a Wrangler. Summer AND winter driving!

A peak at the car dealer's website revealed the price and the mileage. This beauty only had 11,500 miles on it (thereabouts). I held out a couple more weeks and decided to drive her.

And then the blood lust began.




This Jeep is awesome! Not only does she have low miles, she's also loaded (for a Jeep, that is). Straight 6 engine, six speed transmission, bells and whistles I certainly didn't expect...like cruise control...fancy dome lights, a dimming night vision rear view mirror, a radio with a five CD changer and SEVEN speakers. And quite a few other cool things.

And that rag-top? I think it's called a SunCruiser. Of course I can have the rag-top completely 'down', as weather permits, but this model also gives me the option of folding back the first third of the rag-top for a sunroof effect - a far easier way for me to get more sunshine in my life!

So, after a trip to the bank, I got things figured out. And last week, I said goodbye to my first Love and brought home my new (to me) girl. I'm sure I'll be totally besotted with her by summer's end. I hope so, anyway, for Calleigh is already gone to another home, helped, I'm sure, by all those folks who lost their cars in the flood. I hope she'll be a good Love for someone else.

Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to my new Jeep. She's beautiful, and I've been instructed that I'm not to get upset if she's not "prettified" all the time. But, a girl has to look spiffy sometimes, doncha know?



Here she is. Let me introduce you to Skye. She may not look so great in this shot because I was trying to get pictures of her before a thunderstorm hit - we were expecting hail and since I have no garage to hide her in, I wanted to get some pictures prior to potential hail damage! I'll take some more pics on a brighter day when I have the hard top off and the top down so you can see her a bit better.

Kate