Today started out as an absolutely glorious morning. It was one of the first mornings where there was a real chill in the air. The photo on the right is looking northward towards Tinker Mountain. Interstate 81 runs around the foot of the mountain. When I'm coming home from Northern Virginia and I see Tinker Mountain's distinctive shape, I know I'm almost home.
Yesterday we got a surprise visit from Lynn, who had been a neighbor of ours for a couple of years. Lynn, my wife Glenda, Sara, Diane, and another neighbor, Jo who has also moved away formed a group that I fondly called the Mountain Magnolias. They had a lot of fun together, but you could always tell that they could handle almost anything just like the original Steel Magnolias. We actually have a tulip magnolia on the corner of our property which gets the most wind, so I figure it is also pretty tough like my Mountain Magnolias.
Anyway Lynn's visit attracted both Diane and Sara to come visit with Lynn and Glenda. By the time that they got warmed up, I decided that my presence was definitely not needed to keep the conversation going. In fact, it took me about five minutes to get the message in edgewise that I needed to run an errand.
Some large scale photographs that I had at Frameworks were finally ready to come home, some mounted and a particular favorite framed. I went zooming off in Little Limo, our 1990 Nissan Axxess. I got a great surprise when I got to the print shop. Three of my smaller prints had sold and I had a check waiting for me. I picked up the rest of the photos and headed home. On the way home I noticed that Little Limo was running hot. In fact coming up our hill, it came close to overheating. This morning I checked all the fluid levels and decided it needed to go to the dealership. We managed to get it over to the dealership not far from Tinker Mountain around noon, and they promised to have it done if possible by Monday.
Since we have made the decision to replace our Volvo Cross Country wagon, we decided to do some test drives on the way home. First we dropped into the Honda dealership and drove a Honda Accord Hybrid. We had driven a Civic Hybrid a couple of years ago so we were not shocked when everything shut down at a stoplight. The car was smooth, powerful, and reasonably roomy, but the styling was nothing to write home about. It also had a navigation system almost identical to the one on my Acura so that was a plus. The price was very reasonable due to special sale. Still I told the dealer I would think about it and get back to him at the end of next week.
We then headed to the Toyota dealership where we got a pretty cold welcome. I wanted to drive a Prius and/or a Hybrid Highlander. The salesperson told us we could put our name on a list for a Prius which has a waiting list of about three months or Highlander where the wait was only a month or so. We got some literature and left. I not interesting in buying something that I have never even test driven. When I bought my first MDX, the waiting list was almost a year. However, Acura had made a special effort to make certain that each dealer kept one as a demo so potential customers could determine it they wanted to order one. We love Toyotas but I don't buy sight unseen so Toyota probably lost a potential sale today.
Since it was now around two in the afternoon, we decided to grab some lunch at Jersey Mike's sub shop. After that we headed to Brambleton Auto imports and drive a Lexus RX330. The dealership was very agreeable. We took a nice long test drive, and were very impressed with the car. Glenda, however, seemed to think that the dashboard controls were a little intimidating. We did find one that was just a year old with a reasonable number of miles and features that interested us, but in spite of being offered the car for the evening, I again said I would get back to them.
We caught Robert outside trying to rejuvenate his drought damaged grass. Since Robert and I like to talk cars, we spent some time trying to figure out if hybrids really make sense. I think the consensus opinion was that only a Honda Civic or a Toyota Prius really make sense with the current pricing differential.
While we were talking cars, we got a call that Little Limo had been successfully repaired. Since it was after four pm, we decided to head back to the Nissan dealership before they closed. We got before the service area closed, paid our pound of flesh, and decided to stop by the Acura dealership on the way home. After looking around, we decided to test drive an Acura TL. We had a great ride down the interstate and then an enjoyable return trip on a very twisty road. Again I told the dealer sales person that I would get back to him.
We finished our trip home to drop off Little Limo, and then decided to go to the bookstore to pick up a Consumer Reports on new cars. Since the Bookstore is next to one of our local restaurants, and it was getting close to seven pm, we decided to have some more "home cooking" as the ladies on the hill are accustomed to calling restaurant food.
Unfortunately the restaurant was in control of teenagers. After our waitress dropped our food at our table she never dropped by again until I had left and was paying my bill. Had she manged to visit with us she would have found out that my chicken wings weren't exactly steaming hot. When the cashier asked if my meal was okay, I said that the wings weren't as good as they normally are. She commented, that she didn't like wings anyway. Unfortunately that the way it goes sometimes. When the owner is away the staff will screw things up.
We've narrowed our car choices down and will do a little more research before we decide which direction to go. We certainly didn't expect to have a day like this, but sometimes you have to go with the flow.