Dad decided he wanted a new car, so he got himself a new car.  Problem?  It is here and he wants it at the house in Florida.  His plans were to drive it down this weekend, but my mother was worried about him driving overnight by himself.  Here is where I step in.  I looked at my calendar and saw the following: “13K“.  Yes, there was a race in Florida I wanted to do this weekend, but decided it wasn’t practical for me to fly down for another weekend trip after two vacations in the month of September.  Here comes the lightbulb.  I give Mom a ring, “If you fly me home on Sunday night I will help Dad drive the car down and while I am there I can run the Tower of Terror 13K”.  It’s a win-win! 

So tonight Dad and I are climbing into his new car and taking shift driving it down the east coast to its new home in the Sunshine State.  What am I looking forward to the most?  My good friend Pedro and his South of the Border billboards!

Yesterday in the mail arrived a shiny new Idaho qaurter from the Denver mint care of my buddy Pat.  I ran straight upstairs and stuck it into my qaurter map.  It looks right at home.  I will have to post a pick of the quarter map with Idaho present and accounted for when I get a chance.  Now I am down to needing Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Wyoming from the Denver mint.  Yes, Wyoming is a new one on the list.  I hadn’t realized that it was released until yesterday when I got a new one from the Philadelphia mint from the nice lady at Subway.  She is the best source for new qaurters.  :) 

This morning I did a light Pilates workout.  I want to try to run tonight but it probably won’t happen until tomorrow morning after I drop the dog off at the groomers.  Tomorrow is also car washing day because my car is in more need of a grooming than the dog is at this point.  Coincedentally part of the reason it needs a grooming is the dog.  Go figure!

I went last night with the intention of only test driving a car and ended up coming home with one. I was going to buy it no matter what, but I blame Dad for coming home with it last night. We were sitting discussing the car with the salesman and he had to call the buyer to make sure that the price we wanted for the 4Runner was ok. He agreed that it was. Dad hung up, then turns to me and asks, “I wonder if Bob wants it now then we can take the car tonight.” He immediately calls up the buyer who says he will come get it and bring the tags back to us. So they show up a few minutes later and take the truck. Then I realize I forgot my check book, so Dad calls their house just missing them to see if they could bring my check book back. The wife of the buyer, and the new owner of “Joe” the 4Runner, catches him on his cell phone and he heads back to pick up my check book. So in the end I drove home in my new 2005 Honda Accord EX.

I ended up going with the 4-cylinder because he was really peppy. I kept feeling like the V-6 was getting away from me. It is going to give me much better gas mileage, so I am certainly not going to complain.

While at the dealership I got a frantic call from my grandmother that my great aunt was bleeding and she couldn’t make it stop. I had to call my mother who ran over to my grandmother’s with gauze to see if she could help. They couldn’t get it to stop, so my Mom called an ambulance. Aunt Josie is now at the hospital because she eventually lost enough blood that she passed out. She had oral surgery yesterday, and the dentist just told my grandmother to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. My great aunt is on blood thinners because of heart stints that I believe I mentioned in a blog a few years ago. Hopefully she is going to be ok. All my love to the Aunt Josie.

I have made arrangements to sell the 4Runner. Now I just need to find a new car. I am leaning towards the 2005 Honda Accord EX V-6. It has lots of standard features, including XM Radio, which make it really attractive. Also I just love the new body style. Dad and I are going to test drive it tonight. I think I am going to miss the 4Runner, but I am really looking forward to starting out with a new car. Also, the 4Runner will be sold to the neighbors that live across the street from my parents, so I know it will be loved. :blush: