A funny thing happened

-----while at the dealership last week.

Charlie chose a Crosstrek.

Seriously. He did. 

I've had one before but had to go back to the Outback for more room for wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, and equipment to transport both MIL and hubby. 

Now it is just myself and Charlie. A little me and a little dog.

We went back to the Crosstrek because of fuel efficiency and the huge upgrades in safety and reliability. I know there is a lot of argument for never buying brand new, but my reasoning was the excellent warranty I could get with it. Plus they negotiated a trailer hitch installation for a bike rack I wanted.

I argued with myself for a long time over it. Was I wasting money? Was I being foolish? In the end, I decided that since I no longer had the other half with me ... the dude who could fix everything ---- >
I'd go ahead and check it out.

So I asked the salesperson to open up the back of an Outback and the back of the Crosstrek that were on the show floor. We put down the seats and I crawled into the back end of the Crosstrek with Charlie to act as if we were sleeping.

I jumped out and said, "I'll take a Crosstrek." 

We did the figures on my Outback and I got a good trade. Well, let's say it was close to what I wanted out of it. That doesn't happen often. Then I was shown a white one with the features I wanted. Nothing against white cars, but white is not my color. 

~~~~~~~~

In 2015 we had to trade in our ancient used Outback [2002] as it had over 160k miles on it and we were embarking on a cancer journey that required me to drive 180 miles a day for cancer treatment for hubby. We had 6 to 8 weeks of daily treatments of one sort or another. The aging 'Ru was beat up and had an engine issue we couldn't fix. 

Alex, the salesperson showed me a grey one and then... I saw this outside and said..."NO, the red one!"

Rich agreed and we had our first new 'Ru which gave me so many darn adventures!

It is a smaller Subaru and it was in its first year of production. We fell in love with it. Or more like...I 
fell head over heels with it. Rich was well enough for me to go on a lot of trips for those two years. I put a ton of miles on our little red car between the VA, work, and weekend trips.

That worked well until I had to start carting my MIL along with her wheelchair and walker [and groceries] around to appointments. Then Rich had his stroke, and now I had two people to deliver to appointments along with all the elderly equipment.

This was Morris's Car. He loved it. All I had to do was rattle the keys he'd beat me to the car and was ready to be the navigator.

We decided that with the extra traveling with wheelchairs and other things [with more appointments to learn how to speak and properly swallow after his stroke], we'd opt for more cargo space.

Thus, Rich chose the car. Twilight Blue. I liked it well enough. It was a super nice vehicle. But I didn't adore it. 

So today I went to pick up the new Crosstrek. When I walked into the dealership, I was questioned by EVERYone.

"Where's Charlie????"

I won't make that mistake again. Charlie will go with me next week when I go back to sit with the Tech guy who will go over all of the features with me in depth. 

Subaru does that. They have a person sit with you in your car and go through all the features and how to use them. 

New cars have a lot of electronics and computers to make driving easier and safer. There was a time when I said I didn't want any of that, but now, I'm really pleased with those features. 

For example, I can locate my vehicle with my cell phone. I can remotely start it with my phone and set the temperature control with it also. It has blind spot detection which is exceptionally handy when driving in heavier traffic. The headlights actually follow the direction you are turning in.

That is the feature I love best. After all, I do drive often pre-dawn to get to special places to catch sunrises. Having that feature would make driving our twisted roads a bit less tense.

So as I left today, the secretary and two salespeople asked me to bring Charlie next week. They'd love to dog sit him while I get oriented on the new features of this really cool auto.

As I said, I didn't adore the Outback, I liked it. But I only have 3 photos on file of it.

However.

I already have several of my new blue Su-ba-ru.

Dang it is gorgeous.

I may even give it a name.

Hmmm.

Charlie Mobile.

or
Blue.

All I know, is that I can't wait to do some road trips with Charlie.

Yeah. A funny thing happened when I went to the dealer's last week. And yes. They are still talking about the lady and her little dog that decided to buy a vehicle by simply jumping in the back of it and pretending to take a nap.

PS.
Alex sold us our first 'Ru in 2015. Today, we shook hands on his 3rd 'Ru and 10 years of being Subaru pals.