We got Wheels!

As you can probably tell from the dearth of posts recently, it’s been a bit crazy as we’re settling down in Durham.  We’ve been asked a lot lately “are you settled yet”.  And the answer is the same - yes, and no.  

We are indeed fully moved into the house in the sense that we’re completely functional.  But we haven’t even begun putting stuff on the walls or getting certain small items completely unpacked.  We were able to successfully put together a proper crib for Miller, but still are without a kitchen table.  In short, we’re here, and living, but not yet in any sort of regular schedule. 

One of the biggest challenges during the first few weeks was the fact that we only had 1 car (the 1997 Honda which Tracy has driven since college).  So our first couple weeks were full of carpooling and “do you need a ride home from work” emails and calls.  With no mass transit as an option anymore, it became abundantly clear that we needed a 2nd vehicle.  So we began a search online for a car - predictably, we were looking mainly for Hondas, as their reliability has treated us so well in the past.  After several conversations with dealers and daily searches of Craigslist and AutoTrader, we finally found a great option on Friday afternoon at Carmax. 

As it turns out, the vehicle we found was at Carmax in Winston-Salem.  But that’s no problem - the great folks at Carmax transferred the car for free to the Raleigh store.  So when we called on Sunday after church, the car was already to the lot and we were able to take it for a test drive.  About an hour and a half later, we were signing our final signature block and driving off the lot with our “new” (1 year old) Honda Accord. 

We can’t say enough about how great the Carmax process was - it truly is “the way car buying should be.”  Painless, no haggling, and we got a great car. 

On our way home we got a great surprise phone call from my sister Kelly, who was a couple hours early for a flight at RDU back to Nashville after a fun weekend trip with her old college roommates.  We were able to zip over to a coffee shop to meet her in our new car so Miller could have some quality time with Aunt Kelly.  It was wonderful to have the spontaneous hour or so with her before her flight.  And the great part is we will get even more time in a few weeks at the beach. 

Hopefully we will find the motivation to put some things on the walls between now and then.  But, if not, at least we got wheels!