New van

Well, the old '92 Grand Caravan finally became too costly to maintain. With the ever-increasing costs of repair, I made the decision to use the latest repair cost as a down payment on another van. This time, a 2001 Volkswagen Eurovan. I love it and hopefully it will last many many years. I've always loved vans from as far back as I can remember. My dad had a white 1962 Ford Falcon van that I thought was the coolest thing on earth. We would use it to go camping at Rocky Fork State Park in Hillsboro, Ohio. It was our little camper with a makeshift bed in the back. My grandma even made curtains for the back windows. Then, years later, Dad had a navy blue Plymouth Voyager that we would ride back and forth to work in together when I worked with him at United Air Specialists in Blue Ash, OH. That was when I was working my way through college. I would almost always fall asleep on the way back after another 10-hour day. We drove it to Florida a couple of times too. But that van had issues. I think he had to have the engine rebuilt 3 times! Next up was his '92 white Dodge Grand Caravan. He used it to shuttle around his parents when he was taking care of them. When they passed away the van started to sit more and more. The wear and tear of just sitting became its' downfall when I inherited it upon Dad's death in late 2006. It became an icon for John's baseball team who affectionately referred to it as the Bandit Van. We even drove it to Naples, FL last year with no issues at all. However, constantly fixing things that were "damaged" by neglect made it more costly than it should have been. Now the new "Bandit Van" is on the roads and hopefully will take us to Naples, FL again soon.