Friday, June 20, 2008

Introducing the newest member of the adventure family

After nearly 4 months of searching for a suitable adventure van, we finally settled on one last weekend. I have to admit, nothing will compare to the original, first adventure van but this one will definitely see some fun times! We haven't put a bed or storage on the inside yet so I only took pictures of the outside. It's a 2003 Toyota Hiace with 54,000 miles on it -- an INFANT for a Toyota. It was previously owned by a family-owned formwork (concrete) company. It was really dirty and smelly on the inside but we've been putting some serious elbow grease into it hoping to get it clean and smelling nice. We took out the seats and the floor covering and found enough raisins and candy to feed a small orphanage -- ick.

My first drive with the van was extremely nerve racking. Not only was it the first time I had ever driven on the "wrong" side of the street, but I had to shift gears with my left hand. I've only driven it 3 times so far and it still scares the hell out of me. It will certainly be a miracle if there are no dents or scrapes on the van by the time we're ready to sell it. I now have an even greater appreciation for the feat Scott conquered in Bali when we rented a hooptie SUV and drove to our hotel 2 hours from the airport.