Still Has It

Still Has It

When Russ and I started thinking about all the stuff we were taking to the beach, like chairs we never needed up taking out of the car, we decided to drive our 22 year old land cruiser. This car is a tank, but it is still a boss. I stopped driving the land cruiser regularly when I got my hybrid ten years ago. We kept the big car because it was great to take to the hardware store or dump. My dad had given Carter a VW when she got her learners permit, but after her new driver inaugural crash she started driving the land cruiser.

That car took her back and forth to Camp Cheerio all the years she worked there. I felt better knowing she was driving up the mountain in the tank. She and her friends even drove the car far into Tennessee to go to Bonnaroo, a big multi-day music festival where it turned out to be so hot they would go back to the land cruiser and sit in the air conditioning.

Since Carter left for College five years ago the land cruiser mostly sat in the driveway. Workmen would stop at my house and ask if I wanted to sell it. Absolutely not. With only 169,000 miles on it, which is only middle aged in land cruiser world. Yes, the leather seats have seen better days and the paint on the hood is a disaster, but as a work horse it can’t be beat.

On our journey home today I noticed gas prices were anywhere between $3.99 and $3.44 cents all in the state of North Carolina. It did not cost us much more to drive to and from Pawleys in the land cruiser as the price of gas is coming down continually the last two months. It did provide us with a great comfortable drive. The highlight was when we had it in limo mode. I was in the driver’s seat, Russ had the front passenger seat pulled up so he could sit in the back with Shay in her safety harness, but still standing on his lap with her head draped over his shoulder. The comfort level was high for everyone, especially Shay.

If you are ever planning on driving across the Sahara dessert or through the alps I highly recommend a late model land cruiser, if you can find one. People don’t get rid of them once they have one.