If you have been reading some of my recent posts, you are probably aware that I have been talking about some of my exploits and experiences after being assigned to the JITC at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. My story today centers around a subject that I have written about a few times in the past, the Tempo from hell. You may even remember reading about some of those stories such as my ill-fated camping trip that occurred at Riggs Flat Lake located along the top of the Pinaleno Mountains near Safford, Arizona. That car gave me nothing but consternation and pain. Actually, it gave my wife consternation and pain. Cuz that was actually her car. My car was a Jeep Wrangler. I never had issues with that. Well, sure. I did have an issue with a dead battery once. I also had an issue with a failed catalytic converter. But that was covered under the manufacturer’s warranty, so it got replaced absolutely free to me. Then there was the time when I was sitting at a stoplight, and a lady hit me in the rear and collapsed one of the donut bumpers. Then, she tried to take off and leave the scene of the accident because she was driving without a driver’s license. Not my problem. But those are all stories for another day. Certain vehicles that I owned have just never been problematic. For example, take my red Chevy van. I owned that red Chevy van for damn near twenty years. During that twenty years we never had any issues with that van other than simple wear and tear maintenance issues. My Jeep Wrangler was kind of the same way. I’ve had other vehicles that I bought used that I had very good luck with. However, that Ford Tempo from hell was an exception. Well, when we went looking for a replacement for that Ford Tempo, we did so for two reasons. First, we needed to get a reliable family car to take over the road on long trips. Second, we needed to hand the Ford Tempo down to our daughter because she was in high school, and she was working after school and on weekends and needed her own transportation. Additionally, she would need transportation later, when she went to college. And college for her was not too far off. We figured that the Ford Tempo was good enough for her. Thus, my wife and I set out to search the local dealerships for a suitable vehicle replacement. We had thought, briefly, about getting another van, but we quickly ruled that out because vans were pretty pricey unless you bought a cargo van. And we pretty much decided that we were not going to buy another cargo van. Don’t get me wrong. The red Chevy van had been very good to us. But it had been a lot of time and effort and tedious work to convert the inside of that van so that it was comfortable in all temperatures and climates. We did not want to go through that drill again. As a result, we started to look at pickup trucks. But regular pickup trucks simply would not do. The cab of a regular pickup truck was just too small. You could only comfortably seat two adults and one child in the cab of a regular pickup truck. We had a family of four. Obviously, we needed something with more room. Thus, we turned our attention to king cabs, extended cabs, and super cabs, especially those that had at least three doors – two doors in the front and one door in the back for access. Inventory of vehicles that would meet our needs proved to be very scarce in Sierra Vista and the surrounding communities. As a result, we broadened our search to dealerships in Tucson, again. After spending two days visiting several different dealerships, we stopped at the Jim Click Ford dealership to check out their inventory. When my wife found the color she liked, we took it out on a test drive. I even got her to test drive it because she would be driving it as the primary operator. As a result, she had to feel comfortable driving that pickup, and it would be the biggest vehicle that she had ever driven. After she told me that she could handle the vehicle, I called USAA to negotiate the price of the vehicle with the dealership. Once USAA and the dealership reached an agreement on the sales price, we signed all the paperwork and USAA sent them a site draft that I countersigned. After the vehicle was paid for, my wife drove our Ford Tempo back to Sierra Vista, while I drove the new Ford pickup. We both reached our house in Sierra Vista while experiencing no exercises in futility.
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