This 1997 Chevrolet Venture has been the Federico Family workhorse for the past ten years. All good things must come to an end and it was defintely time for Bess, or the Loser Cruiser, as the kids affectionately called her, to end her stay with the family. While she did give us 196,865 miles, we gave her so much more. We gave her a new engine, three new (very costly) manifold gasket repairs, a new fuel pump, a new water pump, a new a/c compressor (that quit this spring), several minor repairs, two nice sets of Michelin tires, routine oil changes, lots of antifreeze since she didn’t like to keep hers in her system, oh, and lots of drink spills and mud in her carpet, and made her haul everything from bedroom suites to drums. She was showing a few more illnesses lately and we just didn’t think it was appropriate to spend more money on medical bills for her. We were trying to wait until spring, but had to go ahead and retire Bess to the old van nursing home a few months early. I don’t know if she was ready for that, but I hope she feels better not having to work on a daily basis now.
To replace her, we bought this 2006 Ford Escape (pronounced the same way Dory read the sign in the movie Finding Nemo– you know, Escape’!). I must admit, I really like the Escape! Of course, sometimes I joked that a go-cart would have made me happy with all the issues we had with Bess. Still, the leather interior, super cool sound system, heated seats, moonroof, to name a few things, really help with my sadness (ha!) at putting Bess in the nursing home. I don’t know that the Escape will be with us as long as Bess, but I’m going to have fun with it while I have it! The only Ford vehicles I’ve had are Mustangs, so this was a big step for me. My dad would be proud, though. He was a Ford man through and through. I hope I have as much fun in my Escape as he did in all the Ford trucks he had through the years!
