Correcting an old Mistake

The year was 1997, and I was about to leave the woodsy confines of Vermont to move to Boston. Although I knew it would be a temporary move, and the goal would always be to come back to Vermont someday, there were some aspects of life in Vermont that had to be left behind. These were mostly small things, like knowing that getting out to mountain bike and hike would be tougher, and I happily exchanged them for living just a short walk from Fenway Park. There was one big sacrifice, though, and that was that I decided it would be a good idea to replace my beloved Jeep Wrangler with something more sensible for city life. I only had a soft top, and figured I would live in a perpetual state of break-ins and stolen doors/etc if I brought it with me. I traded the Jeep for a Saab (which I did like very much) and headed for Boston. As it turned out, I ended up living in Beacon Hill with lots of other Jeeps and little to no criminal activity, so that trade has always been somewhat of a regret.

I am not a 'car guy'. I don't know how to fix them, I really don't know very much about how they work, and I don't really get any sense of inflated ego from a vehicle. The associated cost aside, you will likely never see me shopping for a BMW or a Lexus. It just doesn't mean much to me. I am happy to buy nice vehicles for Lauren and the kids to ride in, but that has much more to do with safety and convenience than any kind of perceived social status. That said, I have always had a love affair with Jeeps, which I believe goes back to childhood summers spent with my parents at the YMCA camp they worked at. There were some old-school Jeeps on the island, and I'm pretty certain that is where this started (that's me on the far left):
So, ten years later, I am back in Vermont as planned, and now have finally corrected the mistake I made before moving to the city. During our recent trip to the 4x4 beaches of North Carolina, Lauren finally tired of listening to me whine as the Jeeps rolled by and told me it would be okay to pick one up. Of course I knew I'd better act quickly before my window of opportunity passed. Considering that I work at home, commuting nearly 45 feet per day, it would be difficult to justify a new purchase. At the same time, one of the the rules of purchase was to get something that was at least reasonably safe, so airbags were a requirement (which ruled out the 1986 CJ I really wanted). With the high and low thrown out, I got lucky and found a red Wrangler almost exactly like my old one:

It is newer (1997), but still stays in line with my policy of never having bought a car that was built in the same decade in which I purchased it. There are a few upgrades over the old ride, I now have a hard top (which will make the 355 days of clouds/snow/rain we have here a bit more enjoyable), the aforementioned airbags, and a ridiculously powerful stereo, but otherwise, I am happy to say that Jeep seems to have stayed very true to their Wrangler roots. The ride is bumpy and noisy, the tires are over sized, and the handling on pavement is a little unpredictable. There is no carpeting or air-conditioning, and the steering wheel doesn't even tilt. In other words, it is perfect.

If you find yourself in Vermont sometime this summer, give me a shout and I'll take you out for a spin. Maybe I'll never be a car guy, but I guess I'll have to own up to being a Jeep guy. And yes, the kids are all over it and went for their first topless ride yesterday, so the next generation is already being exposed. Excellent.